Future Legend
by LokiFenokee
Summary: Long ago, a demigod befriended a monster from Lalotai. However, even for nearly ageless beings, nothing lasts forever. And pets are always cuter when they're little.
1. Absolute Beginners

Maui had ventured into Lalotai in search of a great gift to bring to the humans in the world above. Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters, was a wild and colorful place that was filled with mystery and danger-perfect for a nascent young demigod with more boldness than caution to go exploring. Barely into adulthood, he was still quite green, but what he lacked in worldly, seasoned experience, he made up for in audacity and daring. His first trip to the realm had been a lengthy, freewheeling adventure of challenging monsters to battle and wandering the weird world in search of trouble to get into. This trek, by contrast, was a mission.

He had come to this particular corner of Lalotai, a dense savanna of knee-high glowing coralline plants bordered by a forest of neon tentacled trees, seeking the legendary Great Pearl of Matahina. Myth held that the Great Pearl could tame the seas on any voyage, ensuring that sailors traveling with it would have fair winds and safe journeys. With the humans expanding their expeditions across the vast ocean, he knew they would be grateful for such a boon. He could already imagine their delighted cheers, craving the adulation.

As he stood in a stand of twisted trees near the edge of the plain, Maui had the distinct impression that he was being watched from somewhere in the clearing behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up with the feel of unseen eyes upon him. In Lalotai, paying heed to such intuition was often the difference between surprising some unsuspecting monster or being surprised by one. So, with a grin and a yell of challenge, he jumped to face the direction of his unseen watcher, fishhook raised and glowing blue.

The clearing was empty.

Frowning slightly, Maui kept his hook at the ready and scanned the area for hidden monsters. Nothing lurked in the shadows as far as he could tell. A plant rustled slightly and he glanced down.

There was a crab looking up at him from under the frond of a low-slung coral-plant.

Maui blinked in surprise. It was a little thing, really-no bigger than a scrawny chicken. Granted, that was quite large compared to most crabs, but utterly tiny compared to everything else in Lalotai. The crab wore a borrowed gastropod shell, tan and spiraled into a pointed shape, on its back, indicating that it must be fairly young still.

The crab stared brazenly up at him or, more accurately, it stared at his fishhook, still glowing blue.

"Shiny!" it exclaimed cheerfully, waving a little claw at the hook.

"Oh, that's just adorable," Maui said. He set his hook aside with a grin and leaned down to sweep the little crab up in his hands for a better look at it.

The crab promptly clamped a pincer down hard onto Maui's thumb.

"Aaooww!" Maui yelped and attempted to dump the feisty little beastie back to the ground. The crab didn't let go, dangling doggedly from his thumb, even after Maui gave it a good firm shake to dislodge it. For such a little thing, it had quite a strong grip.

Irked, he lifted his hand to bring the crab up to eye level, though keeping it out of pinching reach of his face. "You know, you were a whole lot cuter before," he groused.

The crab, swinging from his thumb, took a wild swing at his nose. The claw snapped just inches short of making contact.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Maui said. With a bit of effort, he managed to grab ahold of the crab's flailing free claw without getting pinched again and held it closed. The crab, now suspended by both claws, struggled and kicked to no great effect. After a few moments of fruitless thrashing, it gave up and hung limply. The crustacean glared with what Maui assumed was meant to be a threatening stare, but lacked any well developed menace to back it up. Despite his annoyance, Maui found it rather amusing.

"Now listen up, crab. You let go of me, I'll let go of you," Maui told it, giving it a little shake just to emphasize the point. "Got it?"

The crab peered at him, giving him a long and considering look. It seemed to understand his words, which was uncommon for creatures in Lalotai, but not necessarily unheard of. It had spoken to him first, after all, although it hadn't had much to say since.

After a moment, the crab seemed to reach a decision. Hesitantly, it loosened its grip on Maui's thumb and finally let go.

Maui shook his hand out, thumb sore but uninjured. The crab watched him expectantly and kicked its dangling legs in the air, clearly wanting to be let go now as well. Maui swung it over and set it down in the broad, open palm of his other hand. "I'm going to let go now, but don't even think about pinching me again," he warned the crab.

It flicked an antenna in response, which Maui took to be an acknowledgement. He let go of the crab's pincer and watched it warily. It clicked its tiny claws once and then again, seeming for a brief moment to contemplate a renewed assault on Maui's hand. Thankfully, it decided against it and instead peered curiously at Maui himself.

Maui looked right back, able to get a better look at the creature now. While it was clearly quite young, it was already nearly the same size as adult coconut crabs in the world above. It was uniformly a dull, dusky purple color, likely to better blend in with the deep shadows of the otherwise colorful realm for protection. Doubtless, the crab would get more colorful with age, as most monsters in Lalotai tended to do. Up close, he could see that the crab's eyes were slightly mismatched-one pupil seemingly permanently dilated-giving it a goofy appearance. Despite it's aggression, there was an innocence in its expression that seemed at odds with the harsh realities of Lalotai. Overall, however, the crab was rather unremarkable.

The crab seemed to be eying him just as critically, examining the tattoos splashed across his shoulders and upper arms, his unruly hair, his broad face, the tapa cloth wrapped around his waist, and the massive shark tooth pendant around his neck. There was an intensity to the creature's stare that was a bit odd and Maui got the distinct impression he was being sized up. He couldn't help but wonder what the crab's assessment was-had he suitably impressed the little critter? Well, one way to find out!

"You can talk," he ventured, "can't you?"

The crab stayed quiet, eyes flicking to Maui's face.

"Come on," Maui pried, "I know you can. You spoke once already."

Silence.

Maui was determined now to get the crab to say something again. The novelty of it all had caught his interest. "Hey, I get it. It's hard to find the words when encountering such greatness," he said, grinning. "But don't be shy, speak up!"

The crab's antennae twitched.

Maui let out a frustrated snort. The crab was holding out on him, he just knew it. A thought occurred to him and he grinned, taking a different tack. "Hey, you want to see something cool?"

The crab cocked its head slightly.

Maui leaned down and set the crab back down on the ground and reached for his hook, propped against a rock nearby. The crab didn't scuttle away, but continued to watch him curiously.

Flashing the creature a cheeky grin, Maui raised his fish hook and in a flash of blue light transformed into a lizard, a bit bigger than the crab but hopefully not enough to scare it off. In lizard form, he scampered a circle around the startled crab and then quickly shifted back to his human skin in another flash of light.

The crab gave a tiny gasp and exclaimed, "do it again!"

"Aha!" Maui crowed, triumphant. "I knew you could talk!"

Caught out, the crab couldn't play it off now-he was clearly busted. "Yes, yes. Now do it again!" the crab demanded, any pretense of shyness quickly evaporating.

Happy to oblige and show off, Maui smirked and raised the hook again. With a fresh flash of light, he shifted into his favorite form-a giant hawk. At this, the crab skittered backwards with a chirp of surprise and alarm. Before the crab's hasty retreat could turn into full flight and deprive him of an audience, Maui quickly changed back.

The crab reversed his direction to cautiously approach again. He stopped near Maui's feet, extending his antennae towards him inquisitively. Then the flood of questions began.

"How did you do that? Can you do other animals? Where did you come from? Where did you get that fishhook? What's it made out of? How does it work? What else can you do? What _are_ you?"

The barrage questions poured forth from the little crab in an excited rush, not slowing down and showing little sign of stopping. Maui blinked in surprise, wondering that he had ever considered the crab to be shy at all. Nevertheless, he grinned-always pleased to make an impression.

"Slow down there, little guy," Maui interrupted with a laugh. "I'm Maui. Shapeshifter. Demigod of the Wind and Sea. Hero of Men," he said, figuring that would answer most of the questions fairly well. "You got a name, crab?"

The crab paused, looking at him quizzically. "A name?"

"Yeah, what do they call you?" Maui replied.

"Nobody calls me anything," the crab replied, confused.

"Uh..." Maui wasn't quite sure to make of that. "Huh." He quickly shifted course to avoid the awkward moment. "Say, you haven't seen a giant pearl around here, have you?"

"You mean the Great Pearl of Matahina?"

Maui blinked in surprise. He started to reply in the affirmative, but the crab cut him off.

"A rare giant blue pearl which gives off it's own light?"

"Yes, an-"

"And was created by the Elder Oyster, who was killed by a huge lizard monster of the abyss thousands of years ago?"

"That's the on-"

"And is said to have magical powers, granting good fortune and safe travels to whoever possesses it?"

"Yes!" Maui cut in quickly, struggling to get a word in edgewise. Apparently, getting the crab to talk was the easy part. Getting him to _stop_ talking was far more challenging. Maybe he should have enjoyed the silence while he could. Nevertheless, he was impressed that the crab had such a depth of knowledge about the item he was after. Eagerly, he asked, "have you seen it?"

"Nope."

Maui's face fell. He had been hoping the little chatterbox might turn out to be useful, making this trip shorter and easier. Annoyance creeping back in, he snorted, "well, how do you know all this then?"

The crab looked away, then gave a small shrug. "I just do," he said, avoiding Maui's eyes.

There was something more there, but Maui wasn't really interested in finding out at the moment. He was on a mission, after all. He didn't have time to play twenty questions with some crustacean. "Well, that's not really gonna help me find it, now is it?" he said. He slung his hook over his shoulder and turned to go.

A voice piped up behind him. "Wait, I know where it is!"

Maui stopped and turned back, raising an eyebrow. "You said you hadn't seen it."

"I haven't _seen_ it. But I know where it _is_ ," the crab shot back matter-of-factly.

Now they were getting somewhere! Maui grinned. "Okay, little guy. Where is it?"

"I'll show you," the crab declared cheerfully, then darted off into the colorful foliage of the plain.

Maui stared a moment in surprise, then started after him.

The crab was remarkably quick, nimbly navigating the softly glowing corals and vividly colored plants. Small as he was, he was able to duck under most of the plants with ease. Maui, however, crashed after him, slowed up by the densely woven undergrowth. The crab would stop every so often and check to make sure he was still following, giving Maui the chance to catch up. After stubbing his toe for the second time on a stray branch of coral, however, Maui revised his strategy. With a flick of his hook, he shifted back to a lizard, making it far easier to navigate the underbrush and follow the agile little crab. The crab, for his part, seemed thrilled to have a creature closer to his size and that didn't tower over him as a companion for a while.

They made better time now, scurrying through the foliage until the crab suddenly skidded to a stop and and ducked into the shadow of a nearby plant. "It's in there," he whispered, pointing a claw towards the mouth of a vast cavern, shaded by a stand of trees.

Maui wasted no time, returning to his human shape and brazenly marching straight for the entrance.

"Wait!" the crab called out from behind him. "There's a monster guarding it."

Maui looked back at the crab. "Monsters don't worry me," he shrugged, unconcerned. Despite his boast, however, he did change tack and approach more guardedly. He came up to the cave from the side, keeping out of sight to peer inside. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he was able to get a good look at what was inside.

It appeared to be a great nest, piled with faintly glowing leaves and built on the bare ground. Sitting atop it was an enormous bird-like creature, at least three times larger than Maui himself. In the faint light, he could just barely make out its shape-a thick body with stubby-likely useless-wings and a curved neck, ending in a small head with a heavy, bone-like crest and a straight, sharp beak. The avian creature's feathers were stringy and bristly, colored dark along its body and streaked with faint spidering lines of glowing red. Brilliant blue decorated the bird's bare head and neck. It's large eyes were closed, apparently slumbering where it sat.

"That's Mamanu," piped a small voice from right beside him, causing Maui to jump slightly. He hadn't expected the crab to follow him. "She thinks the pearl is an egg. She's been sitting on it nearly as long as anyone can remember."

"Hm." Maui looked thoughtful, eyeing the bird monster sleeping on the nest. "Got an idea," he said, "be right back."

He quietly slipped into the nearby trees, scanning the ground for what he needed. It didn't take long and he returned to the cavern carrying a large spherical stone, nearly the size of his own head. It was fairly smooth in shape and likely a similar size to the pearl he sought. All he had to do was carefully slip it under the bird and swap it for the pearl, like collecting eggs from a hen. Easy!

The crab was still waiting there, now looking up at him skeptically. His gaze flicked between the stone and Maui. "I don't think that's a good id-"

"Shh," Maui cut him off with a grin. "Just watch!" With that, he slipped into the darkness of the cavern.

As stealthily as he could, Maui crept along the shadow-draped walls-hook held in one hand and the round stone in the other. He glanced back over his shoulder and was pleased to see he still had an audience. The crab was watching from just outside the entrance. He shot the critter a cocksure grin and kept creeping closer to the sleeping bird.

He was close now and could smell the dusty scent of the bird's feathers. This near, the pale blue gleam of the pearl was just barely visible, tucked under her body. Maui quietly laid his fishhook on the ground and closed the distance. He hefted his faux egg, switching it from his left to right hand. This was it, go time.

Slowly and with infinite care, he gently started slipping the rock under the bird. She stirred slightly, feathers shifting, and Maui froze. A tense moment passed, but the great bird did not move again. He resumed the transfer, sliding his left hand under the bird as well to take hold of the pearl. He spared a glance at the bird before proceeding-still sleeping soundly. With a confident smirk, he slid the rock into the pearl's place and pushed the pearl into his waiting hand. Success!

Triumphant, he pulled the pearl free and held it up. It glowed bright in the darkened cave, a blue beacon of light. Victory was short-lived, however, as a low rumbling growl filled the cavern. His face fell and he suddenly found himself looking into the intensely angry, glowing red eyes of Mamanu. The bird monster emerged from her nest, rising on long red and black striped legs that each ended in three viciously sharp claws. She glared down on him from her superior height, let out a deep primordial roar of rage, and raised a clawed foot to lash out.

Maui gave a short, perhaps somewhat anxious, laugh and made a hasty dash for his hook on the ground nearby. The bird's kick grazed his leg, barely missing the rest of him and sending him tumbling. He rolled with the momentum, though, and came up with the hook in his hand. Without hesitation, he flashed into the shape of a hawk. He grabbed up the pearl in his talons and flew straight out of the cave, leaving the flightless bird monster to shriek in impotent fury from the ground.

As he emerged into the water-diffused light of Lalotai, he let out a exultant hawk's cry and cast a smug look over his shoulder. The giant bird had followed him out of the cave, still raging but unable to reach him. She seemed to have noticed something on the ground to redirect her anger at, however.

The crab.

Maui had forgotten about the little creature that helped him find the Great Pearl-forgotten that he'd told the crab to wait there.

A part of Maui was ready to just shrug it off, take advantage of a helpful distraction while he had it, and let Lalotai's twisted version of nature take its course. After all, the crab was just another monster in the realm of monsters-even if he was a tiny one. A tiny one that had helped Maui. A tiny one that had been impressed by Maui's shapeshifting. A tiny one that Maui had left down there in harm's way.

A pang of guilt hit Maui and hit him hard. In an instant, his mind was made up. He dropped the pearl from his talons, allowing it to fall into a clump of plants where he hoped to recover it later.

With a shrill battle cry, he wheeled around, folded his wings, and dove for the bird monster.

On the ground, the crab was scooting backwards in a panicked rush away from Mamanu. His claws were up and snapping threateningly even in retreat, despite being hopelessly outmatched against such a large adversary. He was running out of space, however, and was quickly backed up against a patch of hard corals.

The giant bird lunged forward with another rumbling roar, aiming to snap up the little crab in her beak. The crab shrank back against the coral, raising his claws over his head in a last ditch defense.

Maui, talons extended, slammed full speed into Mamanu's side. There was enough sheer momentum in the impact to send the bird creature crashing to the ground dozens of feet away, body streaked with rake marks from hawk talons. She howled in surprise and pain, rolling to her feet and glaring murder at the demigod. Maui had already shed his hawk shape and was on his own feet by then, hook raised and glowing blue.

Mamanu charged, barreling down on Maui in a blind fury. Her charge was met with a heavy blow from the fishhook and again she was thrown back. She landed hard, sprawled quite a distance away. This time, she was slower to her feet, dazed and staggering slightly. Hate still filled her eyes, glowing like burning red embers, but she also seemed unwilling to make another run at him. Instead, she bellowed a throaty roar of frustration and took her leave, melting away into the foliage.

Maui waited a few moments at the ready, in case she was merely feinting and preparing for another attack. When no attack was forthcoming, he lowered his hook and looked around for the crab.

Maui found him nearby, hiding under a wide leaf. When he drew the leaf away, the startled crab skittered back and snapped his claws in warning. Despite the threatening display, Maui could see the crab was shaking from what was surely a traumatic experience. "Hey," he called gently to the crab, "it's okay, it's just me."

Breaking through his fright, the crab lowered his claws and looked up at Maui in no small amount of awe. "You came back," he said slowly, as if barely comprehending the very idea. He took a few steps towards Maui, extending his antennae to hesitantly touch the demigod's foot as if to make sure he was real.

Maui shrugged, putting on a grin to hide the unpleasant spear of guilt-the guilt that he had very nearly not come back at all. "Couldn't just leave ya." He looked around, quick to change the subject. "Now, gotta go find where I dropped that pearl."

"I'll help!" the crab said eagerly, then darted into the undergrowth again.

Maui shrugged to himself, not about to turn down more free assistance, and waded into the bushes to search as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept track of where the crab was by the movement of the softer corals as the creature passed through them.

Eventually, the movement stopped and Maui paused his own scan of the ground and looked over. When the crab failed to pick up the search again, he walked over. As he expected, the crab had found the pearl-larger than the crustacean himself. The crab was staring at it almost as if in a trance, eyes slightly glazed over and lost in the iridescent gleam. "It's so..."

"Nice work, kid." Maui cut him off. He reached down and plucked the pearl off the ground, earning him a sudden sharp look from the crab-a disgruntled glare that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving Maui to wonder if he had just imagined seeing it at all.

"Well, got what I came for. I'm outta here," he said, turning to walk away.

This time, there was no voice from behind him. It was conspicuous in its absence. The crab was quiet as Maui left him behind.

The rest of Lalotai, however, suddenly seemed very loud in Maui's ears as he walked. The shrieking cries of eight-eyed bats far overhead, the rattling hiss of lurking lizard-beasts, the low rumble in the distance that might have even been a vindictive Mamanu licking her wounds, and dozens of other malevolent noises crowded around. Lalotai was a brutal realm, filled with all manner of oversized and nasty creatures.

Maui cringed, shoulders bunching up as he tried to ignore the ominous sounds of the local monsters-monsters that would make short work of a solitary little crab with wide, innocent eyes.

He risked a glance behind him. The crab was standing right where he left him, dozens of paces away. The crab watched him go without any look of accusation, but with drooping antennae and what might have been sad eyes.

Guilt! Guilt overwhelmed Maui once more. How could he consider himself a hero if he abandoned someone who had helped him to almost certain death in a dangerous, unforgiving realm? The humans called him the "Hero of Men," but maybe he ought to be a hero to _all_.

It might be nice to have someone to talk with, too. He'd never admit it, but it got pretty lonely sailing from one adventure to the next with no real companions. Even the adoration of humans was fleeting, as it never really got past the worshipping aspect to reach anything approaching friendship or camaraderie.

He wrestled with the dilemma, then finally threw up his hands in defeat. "Argh, okay," he exclaimed, as if to reassure the silently judging scenery that he'd given in.

He marched back over to the crab, whose antennae perked up at his return. Maui kneeled down to get closer to the creature's eye level, setting his hook down. "Hey, you wanna come with me?" he asked quickly, before he could change his own mind.

The crab appeared to be trying to hold back his enthusiasm and play it cool. He wasn't succeeding. "Where are you going?" he asked, excited voice clearly betraying any attempt to appear dispassionate.

"The surface world, where I live," Maui replied.

The crab actually paused at this prospect. "Leave Lalotai?"

"Yep."

The crab thought this over, mulling the idea of leaving the only home he'd likely ever known. He glanced around himself at the weird and glowing expanse of the monster realm, then back at Maui who awaited his answer. The crab smiled, apparently reaching a decision. "Okay!"

"Great!" Maui said. He wasted no time sweeping the crab up in the palm of his hand, eliciting a surprised chirp from the little thing. He held him up to eye level to get a better look at him again. "If you're going to come with me, you'll need a name," he told the crab.

The crab looked at him expectantly, head slightly tilted.

"Hmm." Maui gave the crab a serious look. Names were important. He had never given someone a name before, so he needed to be sure to find the right one. It was a big responsibility and he had the oddest sensation-a faint tingle in the back of his mind-of fates being altered.

Contemplative, he scrutinized the little crustacean. He thought about the crab's show of nerve, snapping at the giant bird monster even when the odds were firmly against him. Finally, he smiled. "I've got it."

The crab waited with unprecedented patience, surprisingly intuitive to the gravity of such a moment.

"Tamatoa," Maui proclaimed. A strong name-a warrior name-for such a tiny creature, but he had a feeling the crab would grow into it with time.

The crab repeated the name back to Maui to see how it fit, then flashed him a pleased smile.

Maui was feeling rather pleased with himself as well, to be perfectly honest-feeling like he'd done something quite significant beyond just finding the Great Pearl of Matahina for the humans. He grinned and set Tamatoa on his shoulder, then stooped to pick his hook up from the ground. "Now, hold on!" he instructed.

"CHEE HOO!" came Maui's gleeful cry. With a flash of his hook, he shifted to a giant hawk. With the Great Pearl of Matahina clutched in one talon and with Tamatoa clinging to his back with all his many legs, Maui spread his wings and took to the air, leaving Lalotai for the world above.


	2. Looking for Water

It was obvious to Maui that Tamatoa had never seen the sea from above its surface, nor ever been in the full light of the sun. When they first emerged into the upper world, the crab had blinked in the the noon brightness, eyes squinting against the glare. Once he had acclimated to the light and taken stock of his surroundings, his eyes had gone wide and he had stared at the endless sea in silent wonder, dazzled by the sunlight sparkling on the waves and the vast empty expanse surrounding Maui's canoe.

That had been the last moment of quiet on the boat, as the questions began as soon as the crab had recovered from his awe-struck enthrallment.

The opening salvo had been about the sea and upper world itself. Was it _all_ ocean? Was there any land at all? How big _was_ the surface world?

Maui had chuckled and explained that the sea was immense, yet full of islands. The crab seemed greatly relieved to learn that the entire surface world was not covered in ocean. Evidently his kind was fully terrestrial, with no particular fondness for water. Maui would have to keep that in mind.

It appeared the crab was infinitely curious, too. No matter what Maui was doing, Tamatoa peppered him with questions about it. The crab had a keen eye for detail and didn't miss much, so nothing went without inquiry.

When Tamatoa wasn't asking questions, he was busy exploring Maui's boat. He had quickly discovered the entrance to the hold and had disappeared inside for a while. Maui could hear him poking around under the deck, probably knocking things over from the sound of it. Maui was unconcerned. There wasn't much down there to damage, after all. After a bit, the crab had emerged with a couple of bananas clutched in his claws. Clearly, he had found the food stores.

Ah. The food stores. He hadn't planned on having company on this voyage and so only had enough supplies for one. He glanced at Tamatoa, who had made short work of the bananas and was heading back below deck, presumably for more. If the crab's apparently ravenous appetite now was anything to go by, they'd need to resupply.

Maui took a moment to determine their position relative to the sun, then trimmed the sails and changed course. The canoe pivoted hard, making a sharp bend to the west. As the canoe turned, there was a yelp and a clunk from below deck, followed by a muffled crash. A moment later, a pair of irritated eye stalks peeped up from the cargo hatch. The rest of the crab soon followed, pulling himself back up onto the deck and hauling another banana with him.

"What was that for?" he asked with a huff, not pleased about being knocked about below deck.

"Well, if you're going to eat all my food up," he said with a laugh, indicating the banana-which Tamatoa instinctively pulled closer to himself, as if worried Maui would snatch it away from him. "Then we'll need to get some more. There's an island this way that should have plenty."

Tamatoa's antennae perked up with interest and he peered ahead towards the bow, but there was no land on the horizon yet. "An island? When are we gonna be there?"

"Soon enough, you'll see."

Tamatoa seemed to accept this answer. After a few more questions and polishing off another piece of fruit, the crab had gone back below deck and had fallen silent.

At first, Maui was just relieved to have a little quiet at last. As more time passed, however, he began to get concerned the crab was _too_ quiet and thus probably getting into some sort of trouble. He tied off the rudder and looked into the hold, just to check.

He found Tamatoa asleep under a large overturned basket. He had also apparently uncovered where Maui had stashed the Great Pearl, which was now holding one side of the basket up to form a crude lean-to. Maui laughed softly, although not loudly enough to wake the sleeping crab. It was actually rather cute.

The rest of the hold was a disorganized mess, however. The contents of spilled baskets rolled around on the floor and supplies were scattered in jumbled piles. Maui shrugged it off. It was really no big deal and he'd stow everything back in its proper place when they got to their destination. For now, better to let sleeping crabs lie.

They reached the island in the late afternoon. It was a steep-sided seamount rising above the waves, where the lushly forested land dropped away sharply as it met the water. The island was uninhabited-too remote, too steep, and too small to support a reasonable human village. Nevertheless, its forests held plenty of wild fruits, root vegetables, and fresh water to resupply with.

Maui beached the canoe in a well protected cove on the western side of the island-a narrow, sloping crescent of coarse black sand between two sheltering fingers of rocky outcroppings reaching into the sea. The cove was lined with tall, swaying palms that eventually faded into a tangled jungle of leafy shrubs and tropical hardwoods. When the canoe's hull scraped dully across the sand, Tamatoa emerged from the hold. With a yawn, he asked "are we there yet?"

"Yep," Maui told him, indicating the beach with a sweep of his hand as he disembarked. He effortlessly hauled the boat up the steeply inclined beach to a place above the high tide mark.

The crab's sleepy haze evaporated quickly and he hurried to climb off the boat once beached, curiosity clearly sparked. Dropping to the damp sand, he spared a moment to take in the whole scene, then looked to Maui. "Are there monsters on this island?"

"Just one," Maui replied seriously.

"Really?" was the slightly apprehensive reply.

"Yep," Maui went on, breaking his serious expression with a laugh, "and I'm looking right at him!"

Tamatoa flashed him a grin, then glanced eagerly off at the surrounding area, his antennae twitching in the air. He seemed antsy to go explore and get his first real look at a realm he'd never seen before.

"Go on," Maui told him. He was pretty sure there was nothing on this island big enough to pose any threat to the crab, oversized as he was by surface standards. Besides, he could use some peace and quiet for a while to get things settled. Late as it was in the day, he figured they'd stay the night, then go collect supplies in the morning before departing.

The crab didn't need to be told twice. He scurried off into the underbrush at the edge of the dark sand.

Maui set to work for a while, getting the mess in the canoe's hold cleaned up and setting up a crude camp at the edge of the tree line. Calling it a camp was a bit of a stretch, really. In truth, it was just a sleeping mat laid out on the dry sand and a basket of the food that remained. He'd also brought out an empty basket and propped it up on a stick for when the crab returned, since that seemed to be an acceptable sleeping arrangement.

Relieved to have a break, Maui gratefully fell back to the sand and relaxed. The island was mostly quiet, except for the whisper of the tropical breeze through the palm fronds. He could hear Tamatoa rustling around a little ways off every so often. Lulled by the peace of the warm afternoon, Maui drifted off for a nap in the shade of the palms.

When he awoke, the sun was low on the horizon and the sky was painted with the flaming colors of sunset, splashed across thin wisps of clouds above the sea. The island was still and silent, with the daytime breezes absent as twilight crept in. Maui stretched and looked around for Tamatoa, whom he could no longer hear wandering around in the foliage.

It took a bit of searching, but he eventually found the crab on one of the rocky outcroppings that encircled the cove like sheltering arms. The tide was out, exposing a network of shallow tide pools in the rocks, teeming with a wide array of tiny, brilliantly colored sea creatures that the crab was busily terrorizing. Tamatoa was perched at the edge of a pool, attempting to fish out the quick little critters with a claw. He was having some degree of success at it, too, and was cheerfully stuffing a delicate red and white striped coral shrimp into his mouth when Maui came upon him.

At his approach, the crab looked up at Maui and mumbled what was probably meant to be a greeting, through muffled by a mouth full of squirming shrimp.

Maui raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Hey, I was gonna ask you wanted something to eat, but looks like you've got that covered."

Tamatoa vigorously protested around his mouthful, obviously preferring an easier meal to chasing around slippery tide pool inhabitants.

Maui laughed, "okay, c'mon then." He headed back for the beach, the crab hastily following behind.

As the sun dropped below the line of the sea and the sky faded to purple twilight, they lounged on the beach and shared fruit from the canoe's supply. Tamatoa enthusiastically rambled on about the things he'd seen while exploring the cove. Maui listened idly, only paying half attention.

When the last light faded and the stars began to appear in the sky, however, Tamatoa fell silent, fading out in the middle of some lengthy description of a particularly colorful seashell he'd found. Maui glanced over. Tamatoa was staring up at the night sky with wide, round eyes-utterly captivated.

Maui let his gaze trail upward. Twinkling stars crowded every inch of the sky, so numerous that they they were beyond counting. Rising from the horizon was the wide, milky pathway of dense stars like a vast cloud, tinted faintly with purple and red. Maui had seen it every night of his life since before he could remember and it was still beautiful. He could only imagine what it must be like to see it for the very first time.

He smiled. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah," came the drawled response from the crab, still lost in the sight.

With Tamatoa enraptured in silent contemplation, Maui grew contemplative himself. He considered the coconut crab, a young monster that he'd brought to the surface from the realm of monsters and who was struck with amazement at nearly all the surface had to offer. At the time it hadn't occurred to him whether or not he _should_ bring the crab along and there was no one to tell him otherwise. A thought nagged at him now, however. Was this really a good idea? Sure, Tamatoa was cute-extremely cute for a weird-eyed little crab, truth be told-but Maui had no idea how big Tamatoa's species could even get, much less if he would become dangerous. Monsters were monsters, after all, and demigods were meant to fight them off, not befriend them.

Nevertheless, he was already growing fond of the talkative little crab and didn't really want to take him back. Reconciling the two was difficult and Maui was not exactly well equipped to closely scrutinize the repercussions of his actions too deeply. So instead, he shrugged it off and resolved to think about it later. With procrastination as peace of mind, he drifted off to sleep below the endless starry sky.

Maui awoke early the next morning to something tugging on his hair. "Go away," he muttered groggily.

The pull at his hair only grew stronger and more insistent. "Wake up," came a hasty whisper. "There's something out there."

Maui rolled over with a grunt, pulling his hair free from the crab's claw and turning to face away from him. "No, there isn't. That's why it's called an 'uninhabited' island."

He was on that blissful edge of falling back asleep when a short, sharp pinch to his finger brought him yelping to full wakefulness. "Agh! What was that for?!" he exclaimed.

"I'm telling you. There is something out there!" Tamatoa said in hushed tones.

"Kid, there is nothing out there. Don't be paranoid," Maui replied, examining his pinched finger in annoyance. The crab's pincer hadn't broken the skin, but it still stung.

The crab let out an exasperated huff. "There is," he insisted. "It's big, too."

"If you say so," Maui said, dismissing it. He stood up and stretched. "Well, I'm awake now. Might as well get to collecting some supplies." He grabbed up a water cask and couple empty baskets from the canoe, then started towards the trees.

Tamatoa looked a bit put out to have his concerns ignored, but followed along anyway.

The island was lushly forested and finding fruit and root vegetables was an easy task. Tamatoa even helped once Maui showed him what to look for. He was particularly adept at digging up tubers and even surprised Maui by climbing up a tree with surprising agility to snip a a few high-flung breadfruit down. It made the work more pleasant to have someone to talk to, as well. The crab was an attentive listener as Maui told him stories about places he'd been or things he'd done as they gathered food. And if the crab had slipped a few fancy seashells or particularly shiny stones that he'd found along the way into the baskets, Maui didn't see any particular reason to object.

In no time at all it seemed, the baskets were filled to the top with food. Maui set them together in a clearing before starting off for one of the island's freshwater springs with the water cask.

Maui located the spring without trouble, having used this spot to gather water before on previous visits. Nestled in a palm fringed clearing, it's crystal clear surface burbled gently with the cool water rising from below. A few leafy plants trailed over the water, shading the back of the pool. Tamatoa came up to the edge of the water and peered in. He frowned slightly, dipping an antennae into the cold water.

Collecting fruit in the heavy, stale air of the hot forest was thirsty work. Maui set the cask in the dirt and cupped his hands to take a drink.

"Maui, stop!"

There was an urgent note in the crab's tone and Maui paused, water inches from his lips. "Eh?"

"It's bad water," Tamatoa insisted.

"Kid, I have used this spring dozens of times. It's fine." Man, this crab was paranoid. Must come from growing up in Lalotai.

"No, it's not!" he said forcefully, snapping a pincer for emphasis. "Listen to me this time!"

The tone of frustrated desperation in his voice this time made Maui hesitate. He let the water slip though his fingers and pulled aside some of the plant fronds to take a closer look. The water looked clean enough and-

Maui blinked. On the banks of the pool there were several dead birds, half hidden by the shadows. A few tiny fish were floating belly-up along the edges of the pool too, small enough to be easily missed at first glance, surrounded by a thin lace of white foam.

He looked at the crab, who was giving him an indignant glare. "I told you!"

"Okay, okay," he conceded. "But how'd you know?"

Tamatoa shrugged, flicking his antennae. "It's kind of like a smell." He looked thoughtful, as if trying to figure out a way to explain what must be a uniquely crab thing to the demigod. "There's a lot to feel in the water."

"Huh." Maui looked at the crab curiously, wondering just how differently he perceived the world. He'd never really given much thought to things like that before. "Well, good work."

Tamatoa drew himself up a little straighter with a pleased smile, clearly enjoying the praise.

"Hmm." Not lingering too long on introspective thoughts, Maui picked the water cask back up. "There's a river farther up the island, we'll get water from there instead."

They went deeper into the jungle, leaving the fouled spring behind. It wasn't far to the river, but Maui was perplexed that he couldn't hear the water. He was almost second guessing his memory of the island when they emerged from the forest to the edge of a dry riverbed.

Maui stared at the dusty channel. "What the-"

Tamatoa looked up at him expectantly. "Where's the river?"

Maui didn't answer, but kneeled down to press his hand into the dirt where the river should be. It was bone dry, even after digging in a few inches-not even damp below the surface. The riverbed had been dry for some time. This was weird-really weird. It hadn't been more than a few year since he had last been here. What had happened? One way to find out.

Eyes narrowed, he looked up the channel towards where the river began. The dry bed curved around through the forest and out of sight. He beckoned to Tamatoa. "C'mon, let's go find it."

They trekked up the empty river until they reached the base of what was supposed to be a towering waterfall. Maui squinted up at the high precipice. He could hear water rushing above, but none was cascading over the lip-something was blocking the flow.

Maui had left his fishhook back at the canoe, not figuring to need it just to gather some supplies. He now wished he had it with him, as it was a daunting climb to the top if he was going to clear away the blockage.

He was contemplating how to best deal with this little hiccup when Tamatoa tugged on the ragged edge of the tapa cloth around his waist. "There's something out there," he whispered.

"Look, kid-" he began shortly, then Maui heard it too. There was a low hissing from deeper back in the jungle, followed by the sound of foliage snapping as something large moved through the trees.

Quickly, Maui snatched up the crab, who gave a startled squeak, and slipped into the shadows of the forest and out of view behind the trunk of a thick tree. From his half-hidden spot, he scanned the trees hoping to get a better look at what was out there.

The birds in the clearing around the dry cascade slowly fell silent, their songs replaced with the sound of something large shuffling through the brush. Maui watched the bending branches of foliage, trying to discern what was there. Finally, the creature moved into view. It was lizard-like, nearly as long as his canoe, and heavy bodied. It's skin was covered in shining black scales, glinting like obsidian in the dappled light of the forest. Underlying those gleaming scales was a network of jagged, fiery orange lines, closely resembling lava beneath cracked stone. Frothy saliva dripped from the sharp, curved teeth lining its long snout and a forked tongue tasted the air.

Tucked in the crook of his arm, the crab squirmed and whispered, "I thought you said I was the only monster on this island!"

"Shh," Maui shushed him. "It's a mo'o. It shouldn't be here at all." Truth be told, Maui was now deeply regretting leaving his hook back at their canoe. Mo'o, the great dragon lizards, were fierce, tricky creatures-some could shape-shift and all of them were dangerous. This one was of a middling size, but it could still pose a significant threat. It all made sense now that the waters were disturbed, as mo'o were notorious for hoarding water sources. But how had it even gotten here?

The lizard passed, not noticing the pair of observers in the shadows. It lumbered on, then disappeared into a wide crevice in the rock face near the waterfall's empty plunge pool. The crack in the wall was hidden in deep shadow and Maui might never have seen it otherwise.

Tamatoa squirmed again, clearly wanting to be put down. Maui complied and set him down, holding a finger to his lips to warn him to keep quiet. "Stay here," he instructed in a whisper. Then with stealthy steps, Maui crept towards the crack in the rock and looked in.

Inside the rock, the crack widened into a narrow tunnel of black rock. Slanting light crisscrossed the cave from spidering cracks in the rocks and cast odd shadows across the damp walls. From deeper within the cavern, Maui could hear the rush of water. He saw no sign of the lizard, so he pressed further into the cavern. The tunnel turned and sloped upwards, climbing up the inside of the cliff towards where the waterfall should be. As he proceeded through the passage, the sound of flowing water grew louder.

Finally, the tunnel leveled out and began to widen into a vast cavern. Maui kept to the shadows and took stock of the scene. Shattered beams of light filled the space, illuminating it enough to get a good look inside. Large boulders of smooth, long-cooled lava were strewn about the floor. On the far side of the cavern, there was a warm orange glow emanating from a round hole in the ground-a skylight into an old lava tube, perhaps. Maui suspected this tunnel, likely reaching deep into the earth, was how the mo'o had arrived on the island.

Maui looked around, seeking out the lizard, and found him easily. It seemed that the mo'o had diverted the river into its lair, hidden in the ground. The creature was resting beside the vast pool of clear water, fed by a cascade entering from a gaping hole above. A beam of sunlight from the water fell from the low opening, lighting the area where the mo'o was basking a short distance below. Any shadows cast from above would be instantly detected and the lizard could easily spring up through the hole to surprise anyone standing near it. It was a prime spot from which to guard his water hoard.

Well, they needed that water. They wouldn't get too far without it. However, they also needed a plan. Maui idly gazed at the patterns of light and shadow haphazardly traced across the cavern walls. Some of the shafts of sunlight were bouncing off slabs of volcanic glass on the floor, then splashing back up on the walls into wide pools of light.

An idea suddenly formed and Maui almost laughed out loud. He thought it just might work, but it hinged on how well he crab could play at being loud and intimidating. Well, it was worth a shot.

He quietly retreated back to where Tamatoa was waiting. The crab grinned, eyes bright with mischief, when Maui explained his plan. Tamatoa was on enthusiastically board.

Maui gave the crab his instructions, then started scaling the cliff face to where the waterfall was blocked. Glancing down, he could see the crab below him, heading for the tunnel. Maui smiled to himself. This was going to be fun.

When he reached the top, he could see that the waterfall had been blocked by a sizable boulder. It had pooled behind the rock, then slipped down a new path into the earth. Maui stepped into the shallow pond and crept carefully around the obstruction towards the hole where the water was diverted. He was careful to keep his shadow far from the opening, then crouched down in the stream to wait and listen.

After a few moments, he could hear a voice within the cavern below. He crept closer now to the opening, hoping for the best, and risked a glance inside.

Inside the cavern, the lizard had moved away from its sunny basking spot. The mo'o was instead looking towards a truly enormous shadow cast on the wall of his lair-a shadow in the shape of a crab. The shadow crab brandished its claws menacingly, looming large on the wall.

"I am the mighty Tamatoa, Great Crab of Lalotai!" a voice boomed, echoing cavernously off the walls. Maui nearly burst out laughing, but somehow managed to keep it in. The crab had apparently found a spot with both great lighting and perfect acoustics to launch their ruse. It was hilarious as it was impressive.

The amplified voice went on. "I have come to claim this island! And all it's treasures! Leave or fear my wrath!" Maui was having a hard time keeping a straight face, but the crab was clearly having a great time hamming it up down there.

The distraction was working, too. The mo'o had moved away from the water and was peering towards the shadow, perplexed but wary. Tamatoa was continuing on, coming up with ever more outrageous claims and boasts and threats. Maui had to admit, the kid was a natural at this. The lizard was stepping closer to the spectral crab on the wall, but there was a look of suspicion in the reptile's gaze now. Well, it was time to act before their deception was discovered.

Maui stepped away from the hole and waded back to the boulder. With a grunt, he heaved the stone free from where it was wedged in the river's path. Finally released, the water poured in a great torrent back over its original track to the waterfall's lip. The pool began to drain away, both over the falls and into the cavern. First task done! Now, to deal with the mo'o.

As the flow of water into the cavern began to slow, Maui climbed through the hole and dropped with a splash into the pool below. The mo'o, which was now perilously close to where Tamatoa was likely putting on his shadow play, spun around with an angry hiss at the sound of the splash. For a lizard that had been lumbering placidly through the woods earlier, it moved with lethal swiftness now.

The mo'o glared first at Maui, then at the hole behind him where the water had slowed to barely a trickle. Realization dawned on the beast and its eyes went wild with rage. With a rasping howl of challenge, it lunged for Maui with its foam-flecked fangs bared. Maui met its charge head on and the pair of them tumbled to the ground in a flurry of teeth and claws and limbs. The lizard was large and powerful, but even without his fishhook handy Maui was a force to be reckoned with. The lizard raked him with long, curving claws, leaving narrow scrapes across his skin, but ultimately the demigod was stronger and faster. Maui caught the mo'o in a tight hold around the neck, twisting backwards and dragging the lizard towards the lava tube in the rear of the cave-intent on forcing the creature back into it and off the island.

It didn't take long for the mo'o to realize Maui's intentions and it began struggling fiercely to get free. Despite his thrashing, the lizard was unable to break out of Maui's grip. Desperation crept into the lizard's cold eyes.

Maui almost had the writhing creature to the edge of the hole leading into the lava tube when there was a blazing flash of green light. As Maui blinked against the brilliant light in the dark cave, the weight suddenly disappeared from his arms and something small dropped to the floor. He shook his head, trying to clear the spots from his vision. When his vision refocused, he spied a tiny green gecko scampering across the cave floor-headed for the exit tunnel. With a shout of frustration, Maui ran after it. It was nearly out of sight already and if he lost track of it, the mo'o could be anywhere. Tracking it down would be a nightmare in the dense jungle.

The gecko scooted around a bend into the dark. Maui was sure he'd lost it now and he let out an exasperated growl, but redoubled his efforts of pursuit.

From around the corner there came a high-pitched squeak, abruptly cut short.

Maui followed around the corner, then skidded to a stop in surprise. Tamatoa was standing in the tunnel with a wickedly smug grin. Maui wasn't sure what was more shocking, though: the fact that the little crab was clutching the gecko, limp and most assuredly dead, in a claw or the fact that the crab was lit up like a beacon in the dark, painted in the wildly glowing colors of Lalotai.

For a long moment, Maui just stared. Tamatoa looked up at him, a proud smile on his face, but eyes seeking approval. "I got him!"

Maui blinked, coming out of his shock, and gave the crab a lopsided grin. "Guess you did," he said with a chuckle. The demigod had just been planning on sending the mo'o away-it was only a first offense, after all-but it seemed that the crab played for keeps.

Tamatoa was looking mighty pleased with himself, too. "Did you see what I did?" he asked excitedly. "I thought he was gonna find me for sure!"

"You did good, kid," Maui told him. The crab preened as Maui looked thoughtfully across the cavern towards the lava tube opening. He'd need to close it, otherwise who knows what else might come up through it.

When Maui glanced back, the crab was examining the dead gecko, its spine neatly snapped, as if it might make a nice snack. "Don't eat that, you don't know where it's been," Maui admonished absently.

The crab shrugged and twitched an antennae dismissively, but said nothing.

Mind on other things than the dead lizard, Maui set off to the lava tube. There wasn't much around to seal it more permanently, so he'd have to settle for blocking it up with the boulders strewn around the cavern. The lava blocks were heavy, but it didn't take long before he had it fairly well stacked up over the broken hole in the tube. "Well, that's done," he announced, dusting his hands off and admiring his handiwork.

He walked back to Tamatoa, who was munching on something-clearly disregarding Maui's words regarding the mo'o-turned-gecko. His neon bioluminescence was beginning to fade and Maui idly wondered how much control the crab had over it, but didn't ask for now. Finishing his meal, the crab looked to the demigod. "This was so cool," he said cheerfully, "what's next?"

"Now we get our water and get going," Maui told him, heading for the exit. "C'mon. More islands await!"

The crab followed him and they left the lizard's lair behind. "Which island next?" he asked.

"Next we sail to Mitiaru," Maui told him.

"What's there?"

"There's a human village there," Maui explained as they walked. "That's where I'm taking the Great Pearl as a gift to them."

The crab looked aghast at the very idea. "You're going to _give it away_?! After fighting Mamanu to get it?!"

Maui grinned. "Of course! That's why I went to get it in the first place."

"But _why?_ " Tamatoa asked, incredulous.

"Because the humans need all the help they can get," he said, then straightened his shoulders and gave his hair a boastful little shake. "That's what demigods do!"

Obviously, the crab likely had no experience with humans and probably just didn't understand how helpless they could be. How much they needed-

Tamatoa interrupted Maui's line of thoughts with a pointed question. "Is that _really_ why?"

Maui faltered, slightly unnerved and deflated by the crab's apparent innate ability to pick up on things unsaid. He bluffed his way through, however. " _Yes_ ," he said with what he hoped was finality.

Tamatoa looked unconvinced, but Maui swiftly changed course. "Hey, there's the water cask," he interjected before the crab could get another word in. "Let's get it filled up and hit the trail."

The young crab gave him an overly perceptive sideways look, but let the matter rest.

On the remaining trek back to the boat, Maui filled the conversation with, perhaps slightly overly loud and deliberate, chatter about their adventure back in the cavern. The crab was easy enough to distract with a little praise at his role in defeating the mo'o and the flattery kept any uncomfortable questions at bay.

Their baskets now brimming with food and their water cask filled, they launched the canoe early in the afternoon while the tide was high. Maui set the sails and they were off, sailing northeast into the warm afternoon. Tamatoa rode on the bow, optimistically gazing off over the water as if already eager to see the next island on the horizon. His antennae flicked in the wind as they skimmed over the water.

It gave Maui an idea. "Hey," he called up to the crab, who looked back at him curiously. "You said you could feel things in the water, yeah?"

Tamatoa gave him a winning smile. "Yep!"

"Like how warm or cold it is? Direction of currents?" Maui pressed.

"Uh huh," he replied. "Other stuff too."

The demigod grinned broadly. "Come here then, I wanna show you something."

As it turned out, the crab could detect far more than just temperature and direction. Using his antennae, Tamatoa could identify organic material in the water, pinpoint silt and which direction it was coming from, and a whole host of other tiny details. He could pick up smells and particles on the wind too with a far greater acuity than Maui himself. Maui was actually rather impressed, but even more than that he was eager to focus and tune it towards his own navigation. With this kind of information, he could vastly improve their accuracy at sea. It was an exciting prospect.

As Maui watched the crab practice searching for signs in the water, he paused to reflect on his concerns from the night before. Perhaps a more responsible person might have advised him to return the young monster back to Lalotai, but Maui saw things differently. The crab was turning out to be a worthwhile investment, after all. He'd helped Maui out more than once now, possessed some particularly useful skills, and had proven himself to be good-if somewhat nosy-company. Granted, Tamatoa seemed to view the world through a vastly different lens than did humanity, but, then again, so to did Maui-Demigod of the Wind and Sea-lack a certain commonality with humans.

His mind was made up. He was not going to take Tamatoa back to the realm of monsters. He just couldn't do it. He'd found a companion, possibly even a friend, and that was the end of the matter.

Almost on cue, Tamatoa glanced back to Maui from the canoe's bow and flashed him a wide grin.

Maui smiled. Yes, it would be good to have a friend.


	3. Scary Monsters

It would take more than a week to sail to Mitiaru, but Maui found the journey a pleasant one. Having company on the long sail was actually something of a joy. Tamatoa was learning fast to apply his senses towards Maui's navigation, which was proving to be quite a boon. When not focused on sailing, they spent their time in conversation and song. As it happened, the crab monster had an uncommonly good singing voice. Who would have thought?

To fill the long hours Maui told the stories of his own exploits, with the crab as an enthusiastic audience. Tamatoa had asked Maui to retell the story about slowing down the sun three times in a row, although he shrewdly pointed out any time Maui's retelling of the tale varied even slightly from the time before.

Indeed, it was nearly impossible to slip any detail past the crab at all. He quickly made the connection between Maui's stories and the tattoos that were draped over his shoulders and began to ask about those as well. This lead to telling the story of his first time shapeshifting, lifting up the sky, and harnessing the wind-all of which the crab soaked up eagerly.

"What about the one on your back?" Tamatoa had asked, all innocent naivety, once he ran out of others to ask about. "The one you hide."

Ouch, piercing. Maui inwardly winced at the crab's uncanny perceptiveness, but kept his face neutral. He opted for distraction, instead, and pulled on the sheet line. The canoe bucked in the waves as the sail swung sharply to a new position. Tamatoa, who had been sprawled indolently on the forward deck, let out a squeak of surprise and gripped the wood beneath him with all his legs to hang on.

"Hey," Maui said before the crab could get a word in, "I think we're a little off course."

Tamatoa frowned, then pushed himself up from the deck to stand. He dropped his antennae to the water and twisted his eyestalks back to give Maui a narrow-eyed look over his shoulder. "Are you sure? I don't think-"

"You're still learning," Maui interjected casually. "Just a minor adjustment, though." He nodded thoughtfully and looked up to gauge the sky, playing the sage wayfinder, then tied the line back off. "There. Better."

The crab looked dubious.

"I think it's time to eat, anyway," Maui went on, pulling out the second tier of distraction and doubling down.

Much to Maui's relief, Tamatoa's antennae perked up with the prospect of food and he seemingly forgot about his question. They shared some fruit and the conversation moved on to other things.

Nevertheless, after that Maui had turned occasionally and caught the crab peering at his back with intense curiosity, trying to get a better look at the tattoo half-hidden by his hair. Tamatoa would look away quickly without comment and try to play it off as if he was looking at other things, but it was patently obvious what he was doing. Maui knew this wasn't the end of the matter just yet.

Thankfully, the question did not come up again on the rest of the trip to Mitiaru. The sun was just rising, chasing away the night in delicate shades of pink and orange, when the island appeared on the distant horizon. Puffy clouds, tinted pale purple by the morning light, clustered over the tiny smear of green above the waterline.

Upon sighting the island, Tamatoa was overcome with excitement. He scurried up the mast to perch at the top for a better view. "Is that the one," he called down.

"Yep! That's Mitiaru," Maui replied, adjusting their course. About an hour or two more of sailing would bring them to the island.

Tamatoa shimmied back down the mast, dropping the last foot or so back to the deck with a thunk. He hurried back to the bow, watching ahead eagerly. "Can we go faster?" he asked, glancing back to Maui.

Maui chuckled. "Sure can, kid." With a flick on the lines, he reconfigured the sail-which was filled quickly with wind. The canoe surged ahead, gaining speed and kicking up spray as it skimmed over the waves.

Tamatoa clung tightly to the bow, a gleeful smile on his face as they sped onward. Maui couldn't help but smile, too. At times, the crab had a seemingly boundless, innocent enthusiasm and it was really quite endearing.

In no time at all, they reached the island. Mitiaru was an old, low-slung island-lacking the dramatic, high terrain of their previous stop. Instead, it was characterized by gently rolling hills, worn down over the eons by wind and rain. Rather than dense jungle, it was cloaked in a sparse, sunlit forest of palms and mulberries, spread thin and wide over coarse grass. Ancient grey stones were clustered across the island, rounded and smooth with time and blanketed in mossy patches.

Maui guided the canoe to a long stretch of straight beach on the far side of the island from the human village. It was not an ideal spot to land, being open and exposed to the wind, but it would do and Maui had his reasons. They crossed the breakwater and ground to a halt on the broad apron of shallow water before the beach. It was still several feet deep here, yet a good distance from the land. Maui jumped down into the water and effortlessly pulled the boat the rest of the way across the shallows to the dry shore.

The hull had barely come to a stop on the dry, sugar-fine white sand when Tamatoa hopped down from the deck. His eyes were bright as he looked around yet another new and exotic place, obviously eager to start another adventure. He was already boldly setting out for the trees when Maui intercepted him, sweeping him up in his hands.

"Hold up there," Maui said, as the crab fixed him with a glare in protest at being picked up. "I need you to wait here for me."

Tamatoa huffed, looking quite disgruntled. "Why?" he demanded.

"Look, I've got things to take care of in the village," Maui said, carefully avoiding mention of taking the Great Pearl there as a gift-a subject which had been a contentious one on their journey here. "But I'll be back shortly."

There was no disguising the crab's open displeasure at this. "But I want to come with you," he insisted.

"Not this time," Maui said with finality. He didn't really want to explain the crab to the mortals. Humans were probably ill-suited for dealing with the reality of even a small talking crab monster, he rationalized. Rationalizations aside, however, there was a tiny, secret part of him that didn't fancy sharing the attentions of the humans with someone else, either.

Tamatoa still looked irked, glaring in sullen silence at nothing in particular.

"Hey, we'll go explore when I get back," Maui said placatingly.

The crab gave him a sideways glance, "you promise?"

"Of course," Maui replied easily. "I promise."

Tamatoa let out a dramatic, long-suffering sigh. "Okaaay," he drawled, as if the concession was a great hardship.

Maui smirked and set the crab back down on the deck of the canoe. "Good. Stay by the boat."

Maui grabbed his fishhook off the deck, then reached into the hold, pulled out the bag that held the Great Pearl, and slung it over his shoulder. This earned him a brief resentful look from the crab, but it faded quickly.

"I'll be back soon," he assured Tamatoa. With that, he started off through the breezy stands of trees and headed for the village.

Tamatoa watched him go until he was out of sight, then settled on the deck of the canoe to wait, tucking his legs under his carapace and keeping an eye in the direction Maui had gone.

He waited and waited as the sun inched sluggishly across the sky.

Tamatoa began to fidget. His antennae twitched and he picked at the deck with a claw. He was _bored_. The sun climbed higher and it grew unbearably hot on the open deck of the canoe, so he climbed into the cool shade inside the hold and helped himself to the fruit stored there. He poked an eye up through the hatch when he thought he heard someone approaching, but there was no one there.

The sun was directly overhead by now and Maui still hadn't returned. Despite the heat, he came topside to keep watch. He paced the length of the canoe restlessly until he got bored with that too, then flopped down with a dramatic huff to sprawl on the deck.

What was taking so long? And what was so special about these humans anyway that Maui would give them such a precious, luminous gift? And why couldn't he come along?

A burning curiosity began to creep in, one which couldn't be ignored. He'd never seen any humans before, nor a human village either. Maui clearly held them in high regard, though. There must be something special about them and he wanted to know more. He wanted to find out why Maui did great deeds for them and brought them treasures.

All at once, he clambered up from the deck to stand. Curiosity had finally won out. He jumped off the deck into the soft sand below and boldly struck out in the direction Maui had gone. Much as it was easy for him to find signs in the water, likewise it was simple to follow Maui's trail across the island.

The forest was open and spacious, with very little undergrowth to impede travel. A cool breeze off the ocean drifted through the trees, dissipating the afternoon heat somewhat and rustling the palm fronds overhead. It was a pleasant enough trek and Tamatoa took his time, in no particular hurry. He might have felt exposed in such an open forest without cover, but he was feeling pretty good about himself after their recent encounter with the mo'o and wasn't terribly concerned. Besides, he could easily spot anything approaching in the widely dispersed trees. That was assuming that there was anything dangerous in the forest to begin with, too. He was sure Maui would have told him if there was.

So, when he spied a glint of light from just off the trail, he had no compunctions about stopping to take a closer look. Hidden under a palm frond was a broken shard of a seashell, nearly flat with just the barest concave curve to it. Obviously, it had come from a much larger piece. The outer side of it was a dull brown color, but the inside was highly polished to the point of being reflective. He picked it up with utmost care and examined it more closely. It caught the light as he turned it this way and that. At a certain angle, he could even see his own image mirrored in it. Reflective surfaces were in short supply in Lalotai and, utterly fascinated, he tilted it to get a better look at himself.

It was only then caught a fleeting glimpse of movement behind him in the reflection. By then, it was far too late to react as a heavy net of thick, rough fibers descended upon him. He let out a shriek of alarm as the net's leading edge was jerked quickly back, sweeping him off his feet and closing around him. In a flash, he found himself suspended in the air-caught on his back in the net, legs fouled by the fibers. The mirrored shell slipped through the net and tumbled to the ground, which was rapidly falling away as the net was lifted up.

Fear streaked through him like cold fire, but bubbled to the surface as hot rage. He struggled fiercely, snapping his claws and trying to get them around the ropes of the net. His thrashing only served to entangle him further, however, and soon he was hopelessly mired. Undaunted, he twisted around still, trying to at least get a look at whatever had caught him. Unfortunately, he was at such an angle that all he could see were the trees passing by as he was carried off into the unknown.

Terror began to creep in. Ensnared in the net, alone, and unable to even see his attackers, he was helpless. His desperate struggles slowed as he tired out, stymied as he was by the tangled net, until he lay limp and exhausted to stew in his paralyzing fear. Was this it? Had he survived and somehow escaped Lalotai just to be killed by these faceless, net-wielding attackers?

The scenery outside the net began to change as the trees thinned out. Wooden structures with palm-thatched roofs began to replace the towering tree trunks. The structures were supported by sturdy wooden posts and open on all sides, allowing the slanting afternoon sunlight to fill them. They were empty of occupants, but the sound of chattering voices and music reached him from a little farther off. Was this the village? It seemed the only logical conclusion, but-

The net he was in abruptly stopped moving, although his captors remained just outside his range of vision. They were still unseen, but it seemed as if they had moved away and left the net hanging. Even entwined in the fibers and upside down as he was, Tamatoa could at least get a look at the rest of his surroundings here. There were beings-looking more or less like Maui-milling about a short ways off. They were gathered around in an open area of the village and, best he could tell, were holding some sort of soirée. These must be the much-loved humans. Perhaps his opinion was tempered by his current predicament, but Tamatoa was not moved to any great fondness for them.

Without warning, he was suddenly jostled about again as the net was swung around. The net mesh around him loosened just slightly. It wasn't much, but he immediately set about trying to free his claws from the knotty tangle. He had very nearly disengaged one when a hand descended into the net towards him from above.

Fueled by fear and anger, Tamatoa finally yanked his claw free of the twine. With a savageness dredged up from the depths of his homeland, he struck against the hand and clamped down upon it. The human made a very satisfying screech of pain and tried to pull away. His blood was up now, though, and he wasn't about to let go. Instead, he pinched harder upon the fleshy part of the hand. If he had managed to catch a finger, it likely would have been snapped, but the thicker part of the hand had more resilience-although far less than a demigod's hand, it would seem. Regardless, the human's howl of pain increased in timbre and volume. The human, now the desperate one, tried to shake Tamatoa loose. He clung on tenaciously as the shaking began to loosen the net off his other appendages. His other claw was liberated suddenly as a few constricting strands fell away. Without hesitation, he swung it around to close it around the hand as well.

The human was raising quite a ruckus now, shrieking and yelling obscenities. He was also starting to come to his senses somewhat and his free hand groped with the rest of the tangled net, trying to get ahold of Tamatoa to pull him off. The commotion was also drawing the attention of other humans, who were starting to approach. Somewhere, the music had ceased and there was just the sound of anguished yowling filling the air.

Tamatoa put more strength behind his pincers and felt the bone within the hand begin to give, just on the verge of cracking. At the same time, he felt the human's other hand close tightly around his legs as the net finally fell away. Icy fear rose up again in him-a sharp yank might well tear him apart. Locked in with no real escape, he squeezed his eyes shut, hung on, and waited for the worst.

"Wait!"

A familiar voice! Maui! The pull on his legs stopped, although the human did not let go. Tamatoa risked opening an eye, eyestalk swiveling to find the demigod. Maui was hurrying over, a stricken look on his face. Relief washed over Tamatoa like a warm breeze and he relaxed his hold slightly on the offending hand.

"Maui!" he called out, his panic beginning to dispel as death suddenly seemed less imminent.

The human let go of his legs in shock, eyes wide at the revelation that the crab could speak. Free of the net at last, Tamatoa let go of the human's hand and dropped to the dirt with a soft thump. As soon as he hit the ground, he scrambled to Maui-and safety-as fast as he could on tired legs.

Maui stared at the scene, uncertain what to think. One minute, he'd been laughing and singing and telling stories to the mortals-the guest of honor as they celebrated his gift to them-and the next he was confronted with the unexpected scene of Tamatoa locked in a vicious struggle with the kitchen staff.

The crab must have followed him here, but had obviously run afoul of some of the villagers along the way-the net, now in a heap on the ground, was a good indicator there. He supposed he should have anticipated that the crab wouldn't wait forever at the boat for him. Tamatoa was now sheltering behind Maui. He was pressed against Maui's legs and he could feel the crab trembling-either with fear or exhaustion, it was hard to know.

The man who had the misfortune of getting pinched, however, was irate. His wounded hand was already turning a deep, ugly shade of yellowish-purple. He'd recovered from his initial shock at Tamatoa's voice and had apparently found a wooden kitchen maul. He clutched it in his uninjured hand and stalked towards the crab, vengeance writ loudly on his face.

Knowing things were about to go sideways, Maui quickly stooped to pick up the frightened crab. For once, the crab made no objection to being picked up. Indeed, he clutched tightly to Maui's shoulder once placed there-safely out of reach of the angry mortal. Maui would have to sort this out fast, before things could spiral too far out of control. He didn't want to get run out of the village.

"Hold up a minute," he said, putting on his most disarming smile. "Now, I know you're upset-"

The man snorted, but ceased his approach. He didn't lower the maul yet.

"-but just hear me out," he went on. "This little guy is with me. And I'm sure he's very sorry-"

Now there was a tiny snort from the crab on his shoulder.

"-but you'll just have to forgive him this time." Maui hesitated a moment, considering his next words, then pressed on ahead. "After all, he helped bring the Great Pearl of Matahina here to you," Maui admitted.

A few voices around them murmured softly. He hadn't told them that part of the story, but clearly now he would have to in order to diffuse the tension.

"Now," he continued, oozing charm, "let's go back to the feast and I'll tell you all about it."

The pinched man lowered his mallet, albeit reluctantly. As if sent by the gods, a healer emerged from the crowd, gently took the man's arm, and lead him off to treat his wounded hand.

The tension bled from the air, dissipating into the breeze. Breathing an inward sigh of relief, Maui led the crowd back to their celebration.

The crab refused to leave Maui's shoulder, even after they were all seated. He did ease the death grip his legs had on Maui and relax a little, however, as the music resumed.

As promised, Maui smoothly launched back into the story of how he'd found the Great Pearl, now amending to include Tamatoa's role. On his shoulder, he felt the crab's legs loosen just a bit more on him. By the time he had finished retelling the story, Tamatoa seemed far more at ease and Maui even caught him tapping his legs in time with the villagers' music. Nevertheless, Maui could see out of the corner of his eye that the crab was still in a heightened state of watchfulness-peering intently at the villagers with a shade of mistrust. Well, hopefully that would fade soon enough. One bad experience wasn't the end of the world and he was sure the crab would learn to like the humans eventually.

As the party wore on, villagers came to present Maui with gifts of their own. They brought baskets of food and supplies, which he accepted easily as his due. They'd need them for the next journey, after all.

One villager, a strong young woman, brought him a plain necklace adorned with an intricately designed pendant, delicately carved into interconnected whorls from a gleaming abalone shell. She held the necklace out to him, but he gently pressed it back into her hand. "I have no need for your jewelry," he told her, "you keep it."

There was an anguished squeak by his ear. The crab stared at the pendant with covetous eyes, a claw reaching in its direction longingly.

"No, Tamatoa," he admonished sternly under his breath.

The woman smiled a kindly smile. "It's okay," she said. "A gift for the crab who helped find the Great Pearl." She offered the pendant to Tamatoa.

The crab looked elated and reached for it, but hesitated and looked to Maui. "Go ahead," he said, giving in. "But just this once," he warned. Maui supposed it was okay this time. Maybe it might take the sting out of his earlier experience, anyway.

Tamatoa beamed a radiant grin. He carefully plucked the pendant from the woman's fingers and held it up to admire it in the fading light. His delight was clearly evident as he clutched the little treasure.

The woman gave Maui a knowing smile, then turned and drifted back into the crowd. Maui's gaze trailed after her, but then another villager approached to add a bunch of bananas to the food basket before him and the moment was gone.

With the sun dropping below the trees and night setting in, the celebration came to a close. A few boys from the village turned up to carry the supplies across the island to the canoe. Meanwhile, Maui bade his farewells to the mortals. With adoring cheers and wishes for his speedy return to their island, they saw him off like a chieftain of highest honors.

His steps light and humming a little tune, Maui started back through the forest to the beach where their canoe waited. Tamatoa was still riding on his shoulder, surprisingly quietly.

The silence didn't last, however. Once they were well clear of the village, the crab spoke up.

"How could you give the Great Pearl to them? They're horrible!" he blurted out.

Maui was taken aback, momentarily stunned into silence by the frank assessment. "Wait, what?" he sputtered.

"They dragged me all over the island in that net!" Tamatoa complained bitterly.

Recovering from his initial surprise, Maui stopped. He lifted the crab off his shoulder and into his hands so he could look him properly. "Now that was just a little mistake," he told him, automatically coming to defense of the humans.

"He would have killed me!"

There wasn't much denying that, Maui knew. Nevertheless, he brushed it off smoothly. "But he didn't. I got you out of that, didn't I?"

The crab grumbled, muttering something under his breath.

"And you're fine," Maui went on anyway. "So, don't worry about it."

Tamatoa fixed him with a piercing look. "They worship you and you like it."

Caught off guard again, Maui nearly sputtered a reply that might have bared his soul a little too deeply. The little crab was already reading him too well, discerning too much, and it made him uncomfortable to feel so exposed. He managed to right himself, however, and mustered up some bravado. "I'm a demigod, remember?" he said, raising a haughty eyebrow. "That's how it works with humans."

The crab opened his mouth to say something else, but Maui swiftly cut in. "And didn't that woman give you that pretty pendant? Let's see it."

Tamatoa's stormy expression broke a little. He retrieved the pendant from where he'd stashed it in his borrowed shell. It gleamed softly in the moonlight and the crab gave it a reverent look. "I suppose," he drawled, voice drifting somewhere between begrudging and admiration. "I suppose she wasn't so bad."

"There, see?" Maui said, triumphant. "They're not so bad. You'll see."

Satisfied that the matter was resolved, Maui set the crab back on his shoulder and walked on to their canoe.

They'd sleep on the beach tonight and set off in the morning, perhaps after a little of the promised exploring if the crab still felt up to it after getting an unwitting tour of the island already. Of course, the humans, as always, had offered to let them stay in the village overnight, but Maui had declined. In truth, Maui just didn't feel comfortable sleeping among the mortals. He wasn't really one of them and, even with their adoration and gifts, he couldn't ever forget that. He could never forget that he'd been abandoned by them.

Thankfully, Tamatoa didn't question the decision to sleep away from the village. Not this time, anyway.


	4. Almost Grown

Time passes without much ceremony for an immortal demigod. The years tend to blend together, with little to mark the transition from one to the next. The faces in the human villages would change as time went by, but their habits never did. Everything _did_ change, however, when Maui brought a young crab monster out of Lalotai. Suddenly, the passage of time was clear and distinct right before his eyes as they traveled together.

As the decades rolled by, Tamatoa grew from a tiny, adorable crab small enough to fit in Maui's hands to a crustacean more than half the demigod's height. He no longer needed a borrowed shell for protection, much to their mutual relief. It had become increasingly difficult to find new shells of suitable size as the crab had gotten larger and outgrown old ones, causing some considerable hassle for them both. Instead, Tamatoa now sported his own heavily armored carapace. He'd become more colorful over the years, as well. Dusky purple still remained as his base color, but was now accentuated with indigo shades, rosy hues, and light blue striations. Maui assumed it was an adult coloration, but it was hard to know whether or not the crab had actually reached full adulthood or not. One thing was certain, though: Tamatoa kept getting larger. Maui occasionally wondered how much bigger the crab would get, but didn't invest too much consideration in the matter beyond a casual, stray thought.

The crab in question was currently sprawled lazily under a wide-canopied banyan tree. He was fiddling with some trinket, turning it over in his claws and admiring it's sheen in the dappled sunlight. Lethargy was the theme of the afternoon as the oppressive heat of the sun had driven them inland to the milder air of the forest. Maui too was lounging leisurely in the shade, relaxed against the cool, smooth surface of a granite boulder, and softly humming to himself.

They had been on this island for a while now, taking it easy after their last misadventure, which had left them both somewhat battered. They had encountered a snake-like creature of enormous size while searching for a particularly promising treasure. The snake had managed to get its coils around Maui, squeezing him tightly enough to crack several of his ribs, and had caught Tamatoa with a stream of spitting venom, making the crab ill for weeks. Despite those setbacks, they had still emerged victorious and had put an end to the snake. Unfortunately, the treasure they sought had turned out to be nothing more than a rumor and they had limped back, empty handed and wounded, to this island to recover.

A month of easy living had seen them both back to health, but they lingered on for weeks beyond that. The island had abundant food and, being far off the usual trade routes, saw few passing travelers-so they enjoyed a comfortable peace. Neither of them would be content to laze away here forever, though. Already, Maui was beginning to feel the itch to get back on the water and on to the next adventure.

He glanced towards his companion, who was still captivated by the glitter of whatever bauble he was tinkering with. Tamatoa tended to collect stories and rumor along almost as much as he hoarded shiny bric-a-brac. As such, he could usually be relied upon to come up with some new myth or artifact or treasure to chase down. It was really just a matter of motivation.

Maui straightened, sitting up from where he had been comfortably reclined against the boulder. "Hey," he called over to the crab.

No response. Clearly, he wasn't paying attention.

Louder now and more insistent, Maui tried again. "Tamatoa?"

Still nothing.

"Hey, _crab cake!_ "

That did the trick. Roused from his reverie, Tamatoa gave Maui an irritable look. "What?"

Maui grinned, victorious. "What have you heard about this area?" he asked. "Anything interesting?"

The annoyed look faded somewhat, but there was a reluctance there. It seemed evident that the crab wasn't quite ready to walk away from their comfortable little vacation yet. "I dunno-"

"C'mon," Maui wheedled. "You always seem to know where all the coolest stuff is. I don't know how you do it." A little flattery usually helped bring the crab around.

The resistance in Tamatoa's eyes was breaking down, but only by degrees. "Well, if you paid attention for once instead of-"

Interrupting, Maui tried a little more flattery. "Yeah, but that's why having you as a friend is so great! You find out all the good stuff for us!"

A lopsided grin started to creep onto Tamatoa's face and Maui knew that he'd won the battle.

The crab looked thoughtful for a moment. "There might be something," he said slowly. "There's a legend of a great silvery fish, Anapa, who lives in this corner of the ocean. Supposedly he knows the location of the mythic Spear of Rahiti. The story goes that if you catch him-but let him go-he'll tell you how to find it."

Maui's eyes lit up. "Let's go fishing, then!"

"You can't fish to save your life," Tamatoa retorted drily.

Maui smirked, brushing the jibe off. "I've got a _magical fishhook._ What better way to catch a magical fish?"

Tamatoa chuckled in amusement, unimpressed. "No way you'll catch Anapa," he said.

"Oh yeah? Care to make a wager on it?" Maui said, slyness in his voice.

"A wager?" Tamatoa's long antennae perked in interest.

"Next big treasure we argue over-no matter what it is. If I catch Anapa, I get to give it to the mortals. If I don't catch this fish, it's yours. No questions asked."

The proposition clearly had Tamatoa's interest now. While their friendship had grown quite strong over the years, they still tended to disagree over how to divvy up the spoils of their adventures. It was the one thing that could spur real arguments between them. A free pass was a tempting offer.

Finally, the crab grinned widely. "You're on, man." He pushed himself up from the ground to stand and extended a claw to Maui, adopting the human tradition of sealing an agreement.

With a triumphant smile, Maui stood as well and shook the offered claw. "Deal."

They set out right away, taking advantage of the early afternoon tide to launch the canoe. Following Tamatoa's suggestion that Anapa was a _huge_ fish and therefore would be found in the deeper waters, they sailed out into an open expanse far from the island before reefing the sail and letting the canoe drift on the current.

Tamatoa seated himself on the edge of the deck, legs tucked under his body, and watched with amusement as Maui fitted a long, heavy rope to his hook. The demigod fastened the bight of the rope to the stern of the canoe. "You really think this is gonna work?" Tamatoa asked.

Maui gave him a cheeky look, one eyebrow raised. "Of course!" He tested the knots, then nodded in satisfaction at his work. "You just watch!"

"Oh, believe me. I wouldn't miss this for anything," Tamatoa replied with a laugh.

Maui chuckled too, then cast the hook into the sea with a mighty heave. It flew a good distance, then entered the water with a splash and sank swiftly into the azure waters. Still grinning, Maui sat down on the deck next to the crab and steadily fed the coils of rope into the sea. He elbowed Tamatoa good-naturedly. "Just wait," he said. "It's gonna be amazing."

"No doubt," came the only mildly sarcastic reply.

The line had barely been paid all the way out when there was a tug on it from the depths. Maui crowed triumphantly and Tamatoa stared in open-mouthed disbelief. Jumping to his feet, Maui started hauling up on the rope enthusiastically. "Ha! Told you!"

Tamatoa didn't reply, but kept his eyes glued to the wet rope emerging from the water. More rope emerged and a dark shape rose with it.

The crab suddenly burst out laughing, shaking with raucous guffaws. Maui tilted his head, perplexed. Then something broke the surface of the water beside the rope. Maui leaned over to look and let out a groan, which elicited even louder laughter from beside him.

It was the rotten hull of a giant canoe, crusted in barnacles and draped with long strings of seaweed.

When Tamatoa had managed to get his laughter down to just a snicker, he poked Maui in the ribs with a pincer. "Well done, Demigod of the Wind and Sea," he mocked, then promptly descended into giggles again.

Perturbed, Maui shot him a withering look. "Ha, ha," he said flatly. Undeterred, he shrugged and reached over the side to disengage his hook from the sunken canoe. The wreck sank slowly back into the deep as Maui re-coiled up the line.

Bravado back in place, Maui grinned. "Okay, let's try that again."

The hook went back over the side once more. Once again, Maui paid out the line and sat back beside Tamatoa. The rope hit the end and nothing happened. The pair of them sat quietly, watching the rope for any sign of movement. Tamatoa idly trailed his antennae in the water. The only sound was the gentle lapping of the water against the hull of their canoe.

The rope twitched slightly-ever so slightly. Maui and Tamatoa both looked at the line intently. Another twitch, stronger now. They looked at the rope, then at each other. Maui grinned. "This time!" he announced, utterly certain of success.

He reached for the rope, but there was a sharp yank on it from below. The whole canoe dipped sharply with the pull, causing Tamatoa to yelp and scrabble at the deck with his claws as he was nearly tossed overboard. The crab was unable to swim and would sink like a stone, Maui knew. Quickly, before addressing the now-taught rope, he grabbed the edge of Tamatoa's shell and pulled him back from the precarious edge of the deck. The crab flashed him a grateful look.

The whole canoe suddenly lurched, hauled backwards through the water by the rope at the stern. "We've got him for sure!" Maui cried.

Tamatoa, clinging to the deck with all his legs, shouted back, "I think _he_ has _us!_ "

Maui made a grab for the straining rope, catching ahold of the slick fibers and hauling up on the to get a little slack. Bracing himself against the deck, he heaved on the line. From below came an answering pull and the rope yanked fiercely back into the water, jerking out of his hands and leaving rope burns on his palms. The boat bucked again as the rope snapped tight to the stern. Then it began to speed backwards again, kicking up spray and bouncing in the waves as they were dragged around by the line.

"Cut the rope, Maui!" Tamatoa wailed. "He's going to sink us!"

"And lose my hook? No way!" Maui shot back. "I got this."

Maui dove for the rope again and with a ferocious yell, dragged it up from the water again. This time, he was ready for the pull from below and braced against it. His hands left bloody palm prints on the rope, but he was making progress. The boat leapt in the waves, violently tossed about with the opposing forces, and showered them both with water churned up by the struggle. Nevertheless, slowly but surely, the rope was being hauled up. The opposition from below grew weaker more of the rope broke through the surface.

Tamatoa had gotten a better grip on the deck now that the boat wasn't being thrown around quite as much. Legs splayed wide for balance, he came to Maui's side and peered over the edge of the canoe. Despite his titanic efforts to pull up the rope, Maui still managed to grin at the crab. "We've got him, I know it!"

Tamatoa looked into the water, murky and silted up from the struggle. There was definitely something down there, a very large shadow rising up from the deep. Whatever it was, it was coming up _fast_ now. The rope had gone slack in Maui's hands and he pulled it up easily now.

"I'm not sure that's-"

The crab was cut off by a sudden boil of water rising up from near the rope. Out of this churning splash, a giant suckered tentacle burst into the sunlight. Then another. And another. And they just kept coming.

"Uhoh," Maui said, eyes wide.

Tamatoa skittered a few steps back in alarm. "Wrong sea monster!" he yelped.

From the center of the tentacles emerged the body of an enraged octopus, several times the size of Maui's canoe. It was a pale yellow-tan color, with large spots of blazing orange dotting it's mantle and arms. Those round spots were bordered by thin rings of brilliantly glowing blue-rings that were rapidly flashing light and dark in the creature's rage. It gnashed it's beak, razor sharp and heavily scarred, in anger. One furious blue eye-an eye nearly the same size of Tamatoa-fixed on the pair of startled adventurers on the canoe with pure malevolence in its gaze.

"Throw it back," Tamatoa demanded of Maui, panic creeping in around the edges of his voice. "Throw it back!"

Maui let out a short, nervous laugh, "yep, that's the idea."

He needed his hook-this eight-armed leviathan was far too big a job to handle without it. Unfortunately, his hook was currently buried somewhere in the mass of writhing tentacles, still attached to the end of the rope. Well, he'd just have to get it back.

"Right, then." Maui gave the crab a quick, calculating glance. "Keep it up here! Don't let it go under!" he instructed shortly. Without waiting for a reply, he let out a yell of challenge and leaped from the deck towards the giant octopus and disappeared into the mass of flailing tentacles.

The boat rocked wildly with the demigod's departure and Tamatoa, gripping the wood tightly, stared after Maui in stunned disbelief. "Wait, _**what?!**_ "

Keep it up here?! And just how was he supposed to do that?! How in the-

A tentacle descended, curling downward to snatch at Tamatoa on the deck of the canoe. With a yelp, he sprang to the side and barely avoided the grasping arm. The arm swung around to try again, but Tamatoa was ready this time and struck at it with a claw. At least, he tried to anyway. The octopus' tentacle was slippery and squishy, making it hard to get a grip on, much less do any real damage. It was also significantly larger than Tamatoa could really get his pincer around effectively. As a result, the tentacle easily pulled free and retaliated savagely, knocking Tamatoa backwards. He landed on his back, skidding on his shell towards the edge of the boat.

Grasping wildly with a claw, he managed to catch ahold of the canoe's rigging and stop himself from sliding overboard, but just barely. Not wasting any time, he gave the line he was clinging to a sharp tug. The knot came undone in the rigging and the line pulled up sharply-hauling Tamatoa back upright with it.

His eyes swiveled immediately to find the octopus, which had apparently lost interest in Tamatoa for the moment in favor of the demigod currently scrambling up one of its legs. He didn't seem to have retrieved his hook yet and Tamatoa dearly hoped he would hurry up with it.

Suddenly, the octopus dropped below the the water. Beside Tamatoa, the rope that had pulled the octopus up was rapidly slipping back over the side and into the water. He grabbed for it, but knew perfectly well he didn't have the strength to keep the fractious cephalopod at the surface himself. Best he could do with the rope was to tie it off and hope the boat's buoyancy could keep the creature from diving deep and taking Maui down with it.

He looped the rope around a wooden cleat on the deck and it pulled tight instantly, jerking the boat again sharply. Now on a shortened leash, the octopus responded with renewed fury and burst back into the air. It returned its attention to the canoe, now perilously close. As the creature rose from the water, Tamatoa's field of vision was filled with a close-hand view of its gaping maw. The fetid stench of it's breath washed over him and venom dripped from the enormous chitin of its beak. A sight like this could easily be the last thing a crab ever saw, he knew.

But that wasn't the only thing he saw.

Wedged in one corner of the creature's mouth was Maui's fishhook, the attached rope still tethering it to the canoe. The fishhook was so close, yet also so close to almost certain death. Maui was nowhere in sight, but the bundle of writhing tentacles attempting to smother something within them was a good indicator of where he was.

One tentacle peeled away from the rest, exposing a glimpse of Maui through the mass, and swung over to renew the assault on Tamatoa.

He spared a brief flash of a glance to where Maui was working his way out of the tangled tentacles. The demigod had managed to extricate most of the top half of his body from the mass of cephalopod arms and caught the crab's look.

Something unspoken passed between them in that brief look. Maui had practically raised Tamatoa since the fateful day they first met in Lalotai, close to a hundred years ago now. The crab trusted the demigod completely.

He allowed the tentacle to seize him from off the deck of the boat.

It was an experience that Tamatoa never hoped to repeat, being lifted towards the snapping, poisoned jaws of the octopus. Some would say that time slows down in these sort of moments, but that would be a lie. There was none of that cliche time-slowing-down feeling here, instead everything happened in a reeling, breathless blur-one moment crashing into the next with no time for thought between them.

As soon as he was close enough, Tamatoa lunged for the hook. His pincers closed around it and, with a hard yank, pulled it free from where it was jammed in the creature's mouth. A fast snip severed the line back to the boat, releasing the tension and causing the octopus to be thrown back slightly, over-balanced. In the split second while the creature was disoriented, Tamatoa called out to Maui and flung the hook to him.

The demigod caught it with ease. There was a flash of blue light and a hawk's shrill cry. Tamatoa was pulled back towards the octopus' maw. Another flash of blue light and he was falling through the air, a severed tentacle still wrapped around him. The vast blue of the ocean rushed up to meet him as he plummeted towards it. Another flash of blue and his fatal trajectory changed, hawk talons gripping his carapace.

Then he was back on the deck of the canoe, trying to catch his breath and kicking himself free of the dangling tentacle, which was still twitching spastically.

A look back at the octopus-now septopus-showed that Maui had the situation well at hand, shifting rapidly between his hawk and human skin and raining blows upon the creature. It was clearly not expecting this fresh onslaught and elected to retreat, rather than lose any more arms. All at once, it ceased it's attack, submerged, and jetted deep under the water-leaving a murky cloud of black ink in it wake.

Just like that, it was over and the sea's surface was calm once more. It would have been like the octopus monster had never been there at all, had it not been for the stringy slick of ink lapping against the side of the canoe. Soon even that would be dispersed and all traces of the octopus would be gone. Well, all except the severed tentacle still on the deck-maybe he should save it for dinner.

Maui, still in hawk form, alighted on the canoe next to Tamatoa and returned to his normal look. The pair of them stood there for a long moment, saying nothing and breathing heavily from the ordeal. Then Maui began to laugh, an infectious laugh born of the exhilaration of survival, the thrill of battle, and the demigod's general joie de vivre. Flustered though Tamatoa was from his up-close encounter with cephalopod dentition, he couldn't help but grin in return.

"Well," he drawled with a touch of smugness, "that wasn't Anapa."

Maui, still laughing, shook his head.

"You ready to give up yet?" Tamatoa went on, eager to win their little bet.

"Ha! No way," was Maui's defiant reply.

"Seriously?!"

Maui, laughter diminished yet still wearing a broad grin, set his hook down and started hauling the trailing rope back onto the boat. "Third time's a charm!"

Tamatoa stared. "You know this is a terrible idea, right?"

"Probably."

Maui pulled the last of the severed rope back aboard and was reattached his hook to the end. He gave Tamatoa a sly grin, then prepared to throw the hook back into the sea.

"Ok, so we're doing this," Tamatoa said, somewhat resigned. This time, he kept away from the edge of the boat and declined to sit down-preferring to be ready for whatever angry beastie came up this time.

Maui laughed and tossed the hook in one more time. It landed some ways off with a splash and sank into the deep again. "This time, we'll get him."

Tamatoa's rather snarky response was one of dubiousness, to say the least.

Time passed and the sun drew lower in the sky. The line was still and silent, without even the tiniest tremor of movement. It seemed no lurking monsters of the deep were taking the bait this time.

After a long while with no sign of activity from below, even Tamatoa finally relaxed and settled back on the deck more comfortably. Maui, seated nearby, looked terribly bored. Tamatoa hid a slight grin, figuring that the demigod would give up soon and forfeit their wager. Indeed, it seemed Maui was near to scrapping the whole affair-fidgeting with the slack rope and frowning at the placid water. Tamatoa watched him surreptitiously with one eye, waiting for him to call this ill-favored fishing trip off. Any minute now-

Maui stood suddenly and took up the slack rope with an air of capitulation. To Tamatoa's immense satisfaction, the demigod started to haul the rope back up. "Well, I guess-"

He stopped. The rope stopped. There was no answering pull from below, but it was definitely caught on something. The pair of them both peered over the edge together, but the visibility below was still clouded from the day's earlier commotion and nothing could really be discerned from where the rope vanished into darkness.

They shared a look. Maui grinned. "This is it. For real this time," he said, although he didn't sound completely sure of his words.

Tamatoa rose from his seated position with deliberate slowness and carefully stepped back from the edge. If it appeared he was hiding behind Maui, that was purely a coincidence of sharing such a limited space as the canoe's deck.

Maui began to draw the rope in, heaving against the force on the other end. Whatever it was, it wasn't fighting so much as taking a dead-weight approach. It was an obvious Herculean effort for every inch of line pulled from the sea, but slowly, inexorably the rope was hauled up.

"Tamatoa."

His antennae perked and he peered at the demigod, "huh?"

"Help me out here," Maui said, strain evident in his voice.

Tamatoa blinked, a little surprised by the frank request for assistance. Maui didn't usually ask him flat out for things like this, preferring either a more _improvisational_ approach to teamwork that left everyone's egos intact.

"Now, please," Maui reminded him, insistent and through gritted teeth.

Tamatoa shook free of his thoughts and stepped up to grasp the rope in his pincers. With legs splayed wide and low, he braced himself on the deck and took on some of the load. Together, they hauled on the line. Whatever they had snagged, it was _ridiculously_ heavy.

Sharing the load now, they made better progress and the rope came up easier.

"We've really caught something here," Maui said, grinning despite the strenuous effort.

Tamatoa couldn't resist a smirk, though he too was straining hard at the rope. "Probably another boat," he teased.

Something _was_ coming up, though-something clearly larger than any boat Tamatoa had ever seen. The dark shape beneath them was absolutely enormous and he fervently hoped it was not some even larger and angrier creature this time. The water around them seemed to swell with displacement from whatever it was.

They were close now. He could nearly make out textures on the shape below. Behind him, Maui spoke up, "hold up a minute."

Tamatoa swiveled his eyes to look at him questioningly, but paused and just held the rope steady.

Taking a breath, Maui instructed, "on three, one big pull."

Tamatoa flicked his antennae in acknowledgement and adjusted his grip on the rope.

"One."

Maui planted his feet more firmly on the deck, widening his stance.

"Two."

Tamatoa braced up, gripping the wood beneath him.

"Three!"

Together, putting all their combined strength behind it, they heaved sharply on the line. It hurtled out of the water, drawing something huge up with it-something so huge that water surged up around them. Suddenly, they found themselves riding the crest of a wave backwards as the massive object burst to the surface. Blinded by sea spray, it was impossible to see what they had caught.

The canoe shuddered to a halt from its downhill slide down the wave, as if run aground on a sandbar. As the fine mist of water cleared from the air, their catch was suddenly revealed. Drenched from the waves, Tamatoa and Maui both stared in disbelief.

It was an island.

A fully formed, fully foliaged, fully functional island. Their canoe was beached upon it, stranded atop a rock formation. Surrounding them on all sides was fresh, green jungle. Young trees marched up steep slopes to a central mountain peak, where water was cascading down and back into the sea. Maui's hook was embedded in a rocky arch, not far from where their canoe had come to a stop.

Tamatoa looked at the island, then looked at Maui. "You really are terrible at fishing," he said, utterly deadpan.

Maui, still staring at the island dumbfounded and open-mouthed, managed a distant reply, "yeah, you win this bet."

As the island settled and the last of the seawater drained away, their canoe teetered precariously on the rocks. Tamatoa grabbed at the deck for stability. "Uh.. maybe we ought to get down from here," he suggested pointedly.

Maui snapped out of his shock. "Right."

It took a little coordination to avoid unbalancing it and tipping everything over, but they managed to get the canoe off the rocks and dragged it back down to the shore-retrieving Maui's hook along the way. Once the canoe was settled on the beach, they both dropped exhausted to the sand. The sun was setting now, lighting the sky aflame over the new island.

Staring blankly at the golden-hued sky without really seeing it, Maui was lost in thought. He was still grappling with the surprise of having pulled this whole island out of the sea. This was _not_ how he anticipated this trip going. Truth be told, he was torn between deciding if this was a failure-being unable to catch that mythic fish he'd set out for-or a success-accomplishing a completely unexpected, but awesome deed. He _had_ lost the wager, after all, and-

"Hey," the crab's voice behind him interrupted his thoughts. "Is that a new tattoo?"

Tamatoa was a sharp-eyed crustacean and had only grown more canny since Maui had brought him out of Lalotai. There wasn't any use trying to hide most things from him. It had been since before he met Tamatoa since he'd received a new tattoo, but Maui had felt this one appear on his back shortly after they brought the canoe down. He had kept it to himself-having still not decided if this was an event worthy of praise or of shame. The other tattoos on his back, after all, were not things he was particularly proud of.

Before Maui could respond, however, the crab went on. "Hey, wait a minute." Tamatoa got up from the sand and approached to examine Maui's back more closely. "That's us, pulling up this island!"

Us? Maui strained to look over his shoulder. He could just barely see it, but it was indeed both of them-perched in the canoe on the top of a wave and hauling up the island.

"That is so _cool_!" There was a note of pure delight in the crab's voice, a tone that he took less and less often as he had gotten older and Maui smiled fondly. Even after nearly a century, there was still a bit of youthfulness to his friend at odd moments and it had occurred to Maui that Tamatoa's species must take quite a long time to reach full maturity.

Perhaps, despite appearing on his back with other less savory tattoos, this one wasn't cause for embarrassment. After all, it depicted both him and Tamatoa-his _friend_ -working together. It was a stark contrast to the one between his shoulder blades. Maybe this _was_ a victory, rather than a failure. Maui's mood brightened with the thought.

"Yep, they just appear sometimes," he replied, then gave the crab a conspiratorial wink. "Usually after doing something awesome."

"Then what's the other one on your back about?" Tamatoa asked, the question instantly cutting right through Maui's uplifted mood.

Maui stumbled to find words to avoid the question, but Tamatoa cut him off. "If you're about to suggest we go explore this island as a distraction," he said pointedly, the youthful naivety of before rapidly vanishing. "I'll have you know that I've been humoring you far too long with that ploy."

Oh. Busted. Maui wondered just how long the crab had been playing along. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, then opened it again. He fully expected Tamatoa to make a joke about him looking like a landed fish gasping for breath, but no jibe was forthcoming.

Instead, Tamatoa was looking at him with a mix of sympathy and sternness. "Maui," he began firmly, although not unkindly, "I nearly get eaten by an octopus to help get your hook, but you can't tell me this?"

Ah yes, guilt. The crab was an expert at wielding it since the very start.

Maui sat in reluctant silence, fighting with his own conflicting thoughts. He'd never told anyone this particular story before-other than himself, none but the gods knew it. However, he'd never had a real friend before either. Maybe it was time.

And so Maui told him.

Tamatoa listened thoughtfully as Maui spilled his secrets, offering no mockery or teasing. He was sympathetic, although Maui knew the concept of parental abandonment was viewed somewhat differently by crabs, for whom it was the biological norm rather than a disgrace.

When Maui reached the end of his tale, Tamatoa was silent for several long moments.

"You know," he began slowly, apparently choosing his words with great care. "You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. That choice means more than where you come from."

Maui blinked. It was a surprisingly insightful statement from the crab, who was typically quite clever, but not necessarily very deep.

Tamatoa gave him a look tinted by a touch of that old youthful innocence once again. "They might have abandoned you, but _we_ will always be friends."

Maui smiled.


	5. Golden Years

_AUTHOR NOTE: Thank you ALL for your kind comments! Your reviews sustain me! :) And to answer a question I've received a couple times: This story won't go past the beginning of the movie timeline, BUT... I absolutely have several one-shots for more adventures with these two planned when this story is through. And potentially a follow up that might go into a post-movie timeline, but we'll wait and see on that one._

Sticks and rocks rained down around them, an unrelenting pelter of hurled projectiles. The angry shouts of the villagers were not far behind. The hail of stones was no real threat, but some of the warriors had gone for their weapons and there was no reason to stick around when their welcome was clearly worn out. They had been run out of the village of Etena and Maui was certain it was Tamatoa's fault.

The crab was laughing as they fled the village and ran into the forest. Stones glanced harmlessly off his shell. "What did you do to make them so angry, man?" Tamatoa asked, much to Maui's disbelief. "Was it that chief's daughter?"

"That was a misunderstanding! I turned her down!" Maui explained defensively, irked at the insinuation that he was to blame. He shot the crab an accusing glare. "And what about the _missing livestock?_ Pretty sure _that's_ what they're mad about!"

"Hey, a crab's gotta eat!"

Thankfully, the villagers broke off pursuit after the pair had been driven a good distance away. Even if the warriors had come after them, they were of little real threat. Nevertheless, Maui had no intention of making the situation any worse by actually fighting with them. Better to just leave with due haste before things could go farther off course.

No longer being chased and with quiet returning to the forest, Maui sat down in the shade of the trees with a disgruntled huff. He stared sulkily into the woods.

Tamatoa stopped and turned to look down at him. The crab had grown even larger as another century or so had rolled by. Now he stood about a head taller than Maui himself and outweighed him by more than half, which was a somewhat disquieting notion to the demigod. How much bigger was he going to get? What was once a question of little consequence began to seem more pressing as Tamatoa showed no signs of his growth slowing. Best he could guess, the crab was still only a young adult at this point-barely out of adolescence.

"Oh, don't be like that," the crab admonished at Maui's sullen silence. "They'll get over it and be back to worshipping the ground you walk on soon enough."

Maui gave him a morose glare. He had never been run out of a human village before and it _stung_. Sure, refusing the awkward proposition by the chief's daughter had caused some consternation with the villagers-some custom that had roused their ire when turned down-but that wasn't his fault! Maui knew that if Tamatoa hadn't been raiding their livestock on the sly, this wouldn't have happened.

The crab twitched his antennae, frowning slightly. "Hey," he said more considerately, having picked up on Maui's foul mood. "They really will get over it."

Maui still said nothing.

Tamatoa tried a different approach. "So, I overheard something while I was ea-while I was behind the village," he began casually, flashing a wily grin. "I think you'll be interested."

Maui snorted, still sulking.

The crab went on anyway. "There's an ancient war club known as Haunui. Legend claims that it is made from solid gold and crusted with rubies. It's said that it brings prosperity and that peace follows it. Very valuable." Tamatoa glanced at Maui to make sure he was listening, then set the lure. "I heard one of the humans tell another how to find it."

Maui was stirred out of his funk. A gift like that to the mortals might go a long way to smoothing things over and winning back their praise. He hesitated to take the bait, however.

Undaunted, Tamatoa dangled the story enticingly. "It's not even that far of a sail from here," he added.

Maui felt some of his anger start to abate. Yes, he could fix this mess. He could go find this artifact and get back in the good graces of the village again. His mind made up, he finally met Tamatoa's gaze. The crab, sensing victory, smiled wide.

"Okay," Maui said, getting back to his feet. He gave his friend a half-grin, despite blaming him for this predicament. "Let's do this."

They wasted no time getting under sail, though it took a bit longer to make their canoe ready these days. Some years earlier, Maui had found it necessary to acquire a bigger boat-one that could accommodate them both as Tamatoa had grown. This replacement was far more spacious and had an ample storage area in the double hulls-which Tamatoa had promptly cluttered up with shiny trinkets and knickknacks-but it was also slower and less maneuverable than his swift little single-hulled canoe had been.

Nevertheless, they made good time over the next few days to the island Tamatoa had gathered from his eavesdropping efforts. It appeared on the horizon shortly after dawn on the fourth day, a small island with a single prominent mountain rising from its center. As they cruised closer, the island's tranquil shoreline came into clearer view. A shallow barrier reef circled the island, keeping the waters still within its confines where they lapped gently against the contours of the beach.

At first glance, the island seemed placid and prosaic-just another of many tropical isles. However, once they were close enough, it was clear that the island's beach was actually quite remarkable. The sand of the beach was a vivid pastel pink-appearing like a thin roseate ribbon gently curving between the turquoise blue of the sea and the verdant hillside behind it. It was distinctly beautiful and surreal, an unusual sight that Maui had never encountered before even after centuries of travel.

After crossing the reef, they landed on the rosy tinted beach. Together they dragged the boat above the tide's reach, across the coarse pink sand. It appeared that the unusual sand took its color from an abundance of crushed coral-ground down by eons of erosion-or so Tamatoa claimed after examining some of it with a critical eye, anyway.

They left the idyllic beach behind and proceeded inland, heading for a cavern tucked into the mountainside. From the shore, they could just barely see the gaping entrance, a dark shadowy area high above on the hillside. According to the villagers Tamatoa had overheard, the secret to finding the golden war club was guarded within. It was going to be quite a steep hike, though.

The island's forest was covered in a thick tangle of jungle vines, which slowed their progress up the mountain. No real paths existed, so they were forced to make their own. Tamatoa took the lead, deftly snipping foliage as they blazed a trail through the overgrown trees. Maui followed along behind, his hook slung over his shoulder and his eyes alert for anything unexpected.

By afternoon, it began to rain. The water came down in great drenching sheets, turning the soft jungle dirt into a slippery quagmire of mud. Over the hiss of rain around them, Maui could hear Tamatoa grumbling something unrepeatable about the state off the weather. He supposed it was a fair complaint, though, as the crab was having a difficult time of things in the thick mud. Between his heavier weight and the pointed ends of his legs, he sank into the deep muck with every step. Maui wasn't having much better a time, either. His feet might be broad enough to keep him from sinking too deeply, but the silty mud was slick as slime and he found himself slipping in it frequently as the terrain grew steeper.

Frustrated and filthy, they were both immensely relieved when they came across a covered stone alcove where they could shelter until the weather turned. It was definitely cramped quarters, but it was at least out of the rain. Tamatoa brushed off as much of the clinging mud from his legs as he could, then settled on the cool, but mercifully dry, stone floor of the little overhang, tucking his legs under himself fastidiously. Maui sat beside his friend, scooting in to stay clear of the falling rain. Outside, the rain poured down unrelentingly and they watched it fall.

Thunder rolled overhead, a distant rumble. Despite the storm raging outside, it was nevertheless a time of peaceful, easy camaraderie while they waited for the rain to end.

After a while, the rain outside their shelter slowed to a drizzle, then stopped altogether. It was late afternoon now and the ground steamed as the rainwater evaporated in the heat. They set back out, heading up the mountain to the mouth of the cave.

The sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon as they reached the vast entry to the cavern. Quiet now, they approached from an oblique angle as to not alert whatever was inside to their presence. Slinking up to the side and staying out of sight, they both peered surreptitiously into the darkness.

There were voices drifting up from deep in the cave. As his eyes adjusted to the low light, Maui could begin to make out the shape of a creature in the shadows. It was a spider of vast size, easily thrice Maui's own height. The spider's body and legs were covered in grizzled hairs. The spider was mostly a glossy black, but was streaked with brilliant color. A handful of horizontal bands of brightly glowing pink and purple circled the spider's legs. The same colors also traced swirling abstract designs across the spider's body as well. It's eyes were a deep emerald green, glittering even in the low light. As Maui watched, the spider's hideous mandibles worked and then it spoke. Unexpectedly, it spoke with the pleasant, almost ethereal, voice of a woman-the sort of voice that had no business coming from a giant, eldritch creature.

Maui had encountered a sparse handful of monsters over the years with the ability to speak, which usually portended a more difficult sort of encounter. The ones that could speak tended to be far more wily, he'd found. And Maui would know-after all, his best friend was one.

There came an answering female voice from within the cave, accompanied by more movement from the shadows. Maui inwardly groaned. If there was anything worse than a giant talking spider it was _two_ giant talking spiders. The second spider was just slightly smaller than the first, sporting similar markings, but colored in yellow and orange.

Maui turned away from the entrance and nearly collided with Tamatoa, who was standing just behind him and straining his eyestalks to see into the cave too. Maui gave his friend a considering look, then grinned as an idea came to him. He beckoned the crab away from the cavern and retreated a safe distance to explain his plan and put it into action.

In the cavern, the smaller of the spiders was in the middle of telling some story, just getting to the punchline. "And then the whole branch fell and the sloth-"

Tamatoa raced into the cave in a frantic scramble, breathless and panicked. "He's after me!" he gasped as he skidded to a stop right between the two immense spiders, "a demigod!" He looked up at them with an entreating look, "help a monster out!"

Both the spiders looked down in mild surprise at a the sudden appearance of an oversized crab in their midst. It was a fair assumption that they didn't get many visitors and that the ones they did receive typically ended up as unwilling dinner guests. Tamatoa knew the trick here would be keeping them off balance long enough to get past those initial inclinations.

The larger of the two spiders tilted her head quizzically and leaned down towards him, her intentions not immediately apparent.

Right on cue, there was a fierce yell of challenge from the mouth of the cave and Maui charged in, tackling Tamatoa with a flying leap. Tamatoa let out a pained yelp, only halfway contrived, as he hit the ground _hard_. He recovered quickly, however, and the two of the grappled wildly in the dust. They made it look good-showy and loud and flamboyant-with the fight intentionally skewed in Maui's favor and Tamatoa playing defensively, keeping the panicked act up well.

It had the desired effect. The spider monsters, clearly not fans of wandering demigods playing hero and harassing other monsters on their turf, were quick to respond. They came forward together, raw menace in their bright green eyes and their mandibles clicking. Tamatoa, pinned beneath Maui, saw them move into action and gave the demigod a sharp jab to clue him in. Maui loosened his grip and looked up at the spiders, giving Tamatoa a chance to 'break free' and scurry back a few steps. Maui sprang to his feet and brandished his hook, glowing blue in the dim cavern.

The smaller of the two spiders got between Maui and Tamatoa, blocking the demigod from him, while the larger one closed in on Maui with a low hiss. "Little demigod," she said, her voice a threatening purr. "Always plaguing monster-kind." Her eyes fell on his hook. "I know who you are. Oh yes, I've heard your name before, _Maui_."

Typically, Tamatoa found it irksome that his name ended up left out of most of the tales told about Maui. Sometimes, however, anonymity could be useful-like _right now_ , when the spiders they were trying to pull a fast one on were apparently more worldly than expected.

Tamatoa could see a legitimate look of alarm cross his friend's face, as they both wondered if this was about to go wildly off course. Sheltered behind the smaller spider, Tamatoa prepared himself to _run_ if need be.

The spider, however, didn't seem to know enough about the demigod to figure out their ruse. Instead, she interpreted his look of alarm as one of fear and pressed her intimidation further. "You'll leave if you know what's good for you," she hissed, punctuating with a clack of her mandibles. She took a menacing step towards him.

Tamatoa hid a smirk, half amused at the spider's gall and knowing that she likely wouldn't stand a chance against Maui in an actual straight-up fight-not while he had his fishhook, anyway. Luckily for her, they needed these spiders alive to get the information they needed.

Maui, playing his role, attempted an appropriately frightened look and then fled.

Satisfied that they had run the demigod off, the spiders turned to look at Tamatoa curiously. Now came the real test. This could still go sideways and, if he hadn't gathered up enough sympathy from these spiders, he could easily find himself fleeing their more violent attentions for real.

The larger of them spoke first and he steeled himself. "Rotten demigods, always stirring up trouble," she groused bitterly and Tamatoa inwardly sighed with relief, relaxing slightly. "You're safe now, little one," she told him.

The smaller one spoke up next in agreement, her voice more youthful and even a touch bubbly, "always mucking about where they don't belong!" She leaned down to get a better look at Tamatoa. "I've never seen a crab monster before. Have you, Herenui?"

"Not for more than a thousand years, Hereiti. I thought they were all long gone," the larger spider replied, thoughtful and reserved compared to her vivacious companion.

Tamatoa's antennae perked at her words. He'd never encountered one of his own kind before, nor even heard his kind spoken of. He burned to ask the large spider-Herenui-to tell him more, but knew he had to stick to the plan. He didn't necessarily see any need to _find_ more of his kind, particularly considering the predilection towards cannibalism amongst crabs. But he still wanted to _know_. This definitely wasn't the time, though.

The smaller one-Hereiti, apparently-let out an eerie giggle and prodded him gently with one long, slender leg. "He's a handsome little thing," she said.

He blinked in surprise, then couldn't help the pleased grin that grew on his face at the praise. He swept his antennae back and stood a little straighter. He opened his mouth to say something, but Herenui beat him to it.

"Indeed. He reminds me of my last mate. Do you remember?"

Hereiti gave that odd little laugh again. "Oh yes, he was delicious."

Tamatoa's grin drained away quickly, leaving behind a _very_ forced smile.

Herenui looked down at him with a smirk, clearly enjoying his sudden discomfort. "Don't worry, young one. You're not my type," she said with a short, rattling laugh. "Now, why was that pest after you?"

Tamatoa couldn't have asked for a more perfect opening. "Well..." He turned up the charm and launched into an elaborate story-a complete fabrication, of course-explaining how he ended up pursued by a demigod. He made it a good one, too. By the end of it and with perhaps a touch of mild flirtation, he had them both wrapped around his pincer. That's when he made his play.

"Come to think of it," he began smoothly. "That demigod mentioned something about a magical artifact the was after. A golden war club. What did he call it? Hau'oa? Huona-?" He trailed off, assuming a thoughtful look and leaving space in the conversation for them to fill.

The younger, and perhaps more gullible, of the spiders filled in the rest. "Haunui?"

"That's the one!" Tamatoa exclaimed, suppressing a smirk. "He said he knew where to find it and was going to take it for himself. I gotta stop him, but don't know where he's headed." He looked up at the two spiders and gave them his most winning smile. "You ladies wouldn't happen to know, would you?"

Herenui, the older and far more cagey of the two, looked down at him with a hint of suspicion in her gaze. Hereiti, however, cheerfully divulged the location without a second thought-earning a sharp look from the larger spider.

His job done, it was time for an exit strategy. "Well, I'd best be going then. Gotta beat him to it," he began, edging sideways and starting towards where the cavern opened into the forest.

"Not so fast," Herenui said, closing the distance between them with a few sweeping strides and blocking his path.

Uhoh.

He took a nervous step backwards, looking up and up and up at the much larger arthropod. His antennae twitched anxiously.

She leaned down low, bringing her fanged mouth far closer to him than he would prefer. Her knowing green eyes bored into him. When she spoke, her voice was low-an almost-whisper too quiet for her companion to hear. "I don't know what game you're playing," she began warningly, "but I don't think you really do either. I fear you're not going to like the way it ends, though."

"Uh..." Tamatoa mumbled lamely, searching for the best way to talk his way out of whatever was coming next.

The enormous spider's face inched closer to his own, her intense eyes filling his vision, and he cringed. "Choose. Better. Friends," she whispered harshly, dropping each word like a stone.

He flinched back, waiting for an attack to follow. To his surprise, the spider rose from her crouch and turned away, giving him one last knowing look before rejoining her smaller companion. "Farewell, crab. Good luck," she said over her shoulder, dismissing him.

He didn't need to be told twice. Hastily, he skittered out of their cavern. Behind him, he could hear Hereiti speaking, her voice bright. "Such a nice little crab. We should have kept him!"

"No, my dear," Herenui replied sagely, "that one would only bring more trouble than we need."

"But-"

He didn't stick around to hear the rest of the conversation, hurriedly leaving the darkened cave behind and stepping back into the warmth of the forest. The sun had dipped behind the mountain now, filling the sky with the purple hues of tropical twilight and revealing the first evening stars above the island. He barely noticed them glittering overhead, his thoughts on what had just transpired. Had she known the whole time that he was working together with Maui?

The demigod in question was waiting for him a reasonable distance from the cavern as agreed. He was casually leaning against a tree trunk, but had kept his hook handy-just in case. "So," Maui asked expectantly, "did they tell you?"

Tamatoa dipped an antenna in assent. "Yeah, I know where to go," he said, although his thoughts were elsewhere. The spider's parting words were still troubling him. What exactly did she mean? What was she implying? Why had she-

"Any problems?" Maui seemed to have caught onto his distraction.

"Hm?" Tamatoa said, shaking out of his thoughts. He glanced behind him at the cavern, barely visible in the dying light, and then back at Maui. "No. No problems," he lied.

Maui nodded, accepting the answer at face value and barreling on ahead. "Let's get going, then." With that, he swung his hook over his shoulder and started down the path they had cut on their way up the mountain.

Tamatoa followed along behind, lost in his own unquiet mind.

They set sail early the next morning, after a nap and a quick resupply. They left the surreal pink shores behind and started out due east, setting their course from the information the spiders had provided. As the island slipped away behind them, Maui noticed Tamatoa staring back at the shrinking island with an odd expression on his face. The crab caught his curious gaze, however, and the strange look vanished swiftly. He flashed Maui a fleeting grin instead, then settled at his customary spot on the forward deck to watch ahead.

After several days of sailing, a thick fog descended upon them. The cool, misty air blotted out the sun, even at the height of midday. It was nearly impossible to see from one end of the canoe to the other, so thick was the fog. Every sound, from the thrum of the canoe's rigging to their own voices, seemed to echo in the murk. Determining their position by sight was impossible with the sky so concealed, so Tamatoa took over their navigation-his long antennae trailing over the starboard bow into the water at intervals to direct their course.

The fog bank stayed with them the rest of the day, then through the night-blotting out the stars and enveloping them in cloying darkness. The only light at all came from the crab's bioluminescence, illuminating the misty brume with a diffuse blue and purple glow through the night. The very air itself seemed to sparkle, the pale blue light refracting off the water droplets in the mist and giving it a surreal atmosphere.

Morning found them still deep in the grey haze for a second day and it carried through yet another night. By the third day, Maui was beginning to wonder if they'd ever emerge from this mess. He squinted through the fog at Tamatoa in the morning greyness. The crab still had his antennae dutifully dipped in the sea, but his head was resting on a pincer and Maui could tell he was actually drifting in and out of sleep. Every so often the antennae would twitch and Tamatoa would be roused, but then his eyes would slide shut again and his antennae would go slack.

Admittedly, Maui was rather worn out too and had caught himself nearly nodding off more than once. Ordinarily, ever since Tamatoa had grown large enough to hold the rudder steady, they would take shifts to allow for a little sleep on long sails. Unfortunately, in conditions like these, the canoe required the full attention of them both and left no room for the luxury of rest. It was taking it's toll, too.

Maui had let his eyes slip closed-just resting them for a minute, he assured himself-when Tamatoa let out a sudden shout of warning. "Rock!"

Dragged back to full alertness, Maui sprang to his feet and scanned the mist ahead of the canoe. Out of the gauzy haze, a narrow spire of jagged stone reared up ominously ahead. He leaned hard on the rudder, sending the boat angling to port. Tamatoa scrambled to his feet and hurried to counterbalance for the sudden turn. The canoe skimmed ahead, slowly bending away from the enormous rock formation and only narrowly passing by it-barely inches between the wooden hull and the sharp, twisted outcroppings.

Maui allowed himself a small sigh of relief, having only just avoided a collision. Both of them were fully awake now, hyper aware and watching the mist for signs of other obstacles looming in their path. It was only then that the fog began to lift, clearing their view of the sky for the first time in days.

Their destination was revealed in the pale sunlight filtering through the dispersing haze. The island before them was small, but mountainous. Several saw-toothed peaks dominated the island, roughly hewn and bare of plant life on their summits. The exposed stone of the mountains was a ruddy shade, mixed with streaks of reddish brown like dried blood. Their lower slopes were covered in thick forest, blanketed in patches of grey mist, that trailed down to the waterline.

It looked foreboding and uninviting. The sort of place where horrifying legends were birthed or killed.

"Well, this must be the place," Maui quipped.

Tamatoa gave a short laugh. "Seems like a very pleasant spot," he replied drily.

They sailed around the island, looking for a place amongst the rocky shores to make landfall. Finally, they found a small cove with a steep beach to land the canoe. The beach, if one could call it that, was the same red-brown color as the mountain peaks. Instead of sand, it was a profusion of small porous scoria stones-filled with tiny bubbles frozen in the stone. They made an unsettling clinking sound as the canoe came to a rest upon them, scraping against the hull and leaving thin gouges in the wood.

The stones were sharp, too, as Maui discovered when he stepped off the boat and they tore at the soles of his bare feet. Tamatoa had less trouble with them, armored as his legs were, and so he did the bulk of the work pulling the canoe up the beach this time.

The war club supposedly lay inland, according to what the spiders had told Tamatoa, hidden in an underground network of tunnels. They trudged into the jungle, both uncharacteristically quiet from lack of sleep and their own independently troubled thoughts. It took the better part of the afternoon to find a way into the tunnels, but they eventually found an opening that lead into the earth.

The tunnels turned out to be ancient lava tubes, dark and dry within the earth. Contorted, grasping tongues of hardened lava dripped from the ceiling-long spikes of jagged stone forever frozen in time. Occasional cracks or breaks in the tube let in shafts of light from above, but otherwise there was little sign of light or life within the maze of passageways.

They illuminated their path with the bright glow of Maui's fishhook and Tamatoa's natural light as they wandered deeper into the tunnels. The tunnel system truly was a warren, however, and they spent a fair amount of time finding dead ends and getting lost. After several frustrating wrong turns, they finally discovered that the best route was apparently one that had a slight cross breeze moving through it. Following this, they had far fewer problems.

From somewhere deep within the tunnels, there came a shrieking call-a warbling primitive scream of some unknown creature, echoing off the stone walls with a haunting vibrato.

They both stopped right in their tracks. The crab's antennae flicked forward and Maui raised his hook to the ready, but no creature appeared ahead of them. A few moments of waiting brought nothing to them, so they continued on warily into the darkness.

The tunnel abruptly widened, opening into a vast cavern. The roof of the cavern vaulted high above, disappearing into darkness well before it's true height could be determined. Perhaps this was some ancient magma chamber within the heart of one of the craggy mountains above, Tamatoa postulated aloud.

It seemed likely to be true. An alien landscape of arching, tortured lava rock formations was laid out before them, lit only by a single shaft of light cutting through the air from a small hole high above. Dust motes drifted lazily in the bright ray of sunshine, spiraling down to a natural stone pillar in the center of the cavern. Upon the pillar lay the Haunui-the legendary war club-wreathed in light like golden flames from above. It was a finely made artifact, constructed of one solid piece of gold, about as long as Maui's arm, and curved elegantly to a lotus shaped head. Tiny rubies were inlaid along the spine of the club, arrayed in swirling patterns like rivulets of sparkling blood. While obviously ornamental, there was little doubt that it could be used effectively as a deadly weapon as well.

It was just sitting out in the open, waiting for them to take it. No monsters standing guard, no mystical creatures with impossible riddles barring the path, no fiery lake to cross. It was easy.

Had Maui not been so exhausted already, he might have considered that it was _too_ easy. He might have noticed that his treasure-obsessed friend was hanging back, rather than immediately rushing up to claim their prize. He might also have considered that it had an ill-favored look about it anyway, so perhaps it was best to leave it be. He might have approached with caution.

Maui did none of these things.

He walked right up to the pillar and stepped into the ring of light to take it.

From above, there was a howling scream from out of even the worst, most monstrous nightmares.

He vaguely heard Tamatoa yell a warning, but Maui barely had time to look up when he was beset upon. He swiftly found himself in a hurricane of claws and feathers and teeth descending from above in a fury. The attack was so sudden and so surprising that he was bowled over, tumbling to the ground under whatever beast had dropped from aloft. His hook was knocked from his grasp, sliding off into the shadows.

Through the flurry of feathers, Maui saw Tamatoa lunge at the creature attacking him. The rush was ill-timed and the crab was soundly repelled, thrown back by a swift strike of the beast's clawed wing. Pinned under his feathery attacker, Maui used both hands to hold off the scaly, lizard-like head as it snapped at him with sharp, curving teeth. He managed to get his hands around the pointed tip of the creature's snout, trying to hold it closed. This only infuriated it, however, and it yanked him off the ground with a quick jerk of its head and flung him away.

Maui slammed into a massive, teetering lava formation, which unfortunately was just unstable enough to come crashing down upon him in a hail of stones. Tired and a little battered already, Maui was now also trapped under a profusion of heavy, rough-edged rocks. Lack of sleep had put him off his game tonight, that much was obvious.

This was not going well.

Maui set about trying to dig himself out of the rocks, even fatigued as he was. Through the gaps in the rocks, he could see the creature and get a better look now that it wasn't six inches from his face. It was some horrifying mix of lizard and bird, stalking towards where he was trapped on two long legs with wickedly sharp talons. It had vast wings, feathered in glowing green and purple and ending with hand-like claws. It's slender body was covered in short black feathers and it had a broad feathered tail, also colored in iridescent greens and purples. It's reptilian head was bare of feathers, scaled like a lizard in a dull dark green. It's eyes were large and piercing, glowing with amber light and lit with an primal ferocity. It stood perhaps slightly less than double his own height, but it had hit like a creature much larger.

Maui struggled with the rocks as the creature approached, but the avalanche of stones was quite a large, weighty pile and he was making poor progress. The bird-lizard was getting closer.

Off to the side at the edge of Maui's vision, there was a flicker of glowing colors. With a growling yell of challenge, Tamatoa leapt out of the darkness and barreled into the bird-lizard. His luminescent colors burned bright with excitement as he slammed into the creature, catching it by surprise and sending it to the ground. It recovered quickly, though, and darted with lightning speed to slash at the crab's face with a wing-tip claw. The crab tried to dodge, but wasn't fast enough. The blow landed and left three long gashes down the side of his face, narrow wounds from which a thin trickle of blue blood welled up.

The effect on his friend, however, was startling. It was as if some unseen lever had been pulled. The crab's markings blazed brighter and his eyes flashed, their sclera filling with glowing pink and blue. The color-shifted eyes narrowed and a rather sinister rictus of a grin spread across the crab's face, highlighted by the pink streaks already glowing there. Maui had never actually seen Tamatoa this angry before and it was an admittedly disturbing sight.

Maui watched, somewhat stunned, as the crab lunged savagely for the bird, flashing forward with shocking speed and ducking low under the wings that lashed out towards him. The bird was fast and agile, but Tamatoa was faster and apparently meaner. He closed a pincer around one of the bird-lizard's legs and gave it a sharp yank. The creature let out a shriek as it was suddenly dragged down to the ground, flat on its back. Tamatoa gave it no time to recover, springing on top of it and using his weight and many legs to hold down the frantically flapping wings. The scaled head snapped up at the crab, but Tamatoa closed both his pincers around the creature's bare neck and held it at bay.

Then the bird-lizard let out a thin, strangled scream. Tamatoa could have easily just snapped the creature's neck quickly, that much was clear, but instead he opted to utterly crush it between his claws. The bird's scream grew wispy and strained, then cut off with a sickening crunch of bone. The struggling wings went limp and fell back to the rocky floor, kicking up a puff of dust.

Maui shoved the last of the boulders off himself, rolling free of the pile and getting to his feet. He stared at his friend, somewhat taken aback.

The wild look was fading from the crab's eyes, the vivid colors retreating back to his mismatched irises. He stepped calmly away from the wreckage of the bird creature with a mild expression and idly licked it's bright red blood from his claw. Maui felt a shiver of unease creep up his spine.

Tamatoa turned to see Maui looking at him. He gave the demigod an odd grin, made even stranger by his brilliantly lit facial markings in the dark and the faint line of blue blood slipping down his neck. "I got him."

Maui looked for words, but faltered. It was a familiar phrase. Why was this all so unsettling all of the sudden?

The crab spoke again, disregarding Maui's loss for words. His voice easily slipped back to a more normal and teasing tone, breaking the weird vibe that had settled upon them. "You're getting slow, Maui man."

Maui let out a short laugh, releasing the tension he'd been feeling. "Hey, that thing got the drop on me!" He paused and cast his gaze around for his hook, suddenly reminded of its absence. He spied it in the dust nearby and retrieved it. "Wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been awake for days," he said, brushing the dust off the hook.

The crab wasn't listening anymore, though.

Tamatoa had walked off and was staring at the war club, utterly caught up in its glittering luster. There was a tell-tale gleam in the crab's eyes that Maui recognized easily, having seen it plenty of times before. He decided to head it off fast. "This one's mine," he told the crab firmly, with a note of command in his tone that ought to make it the final word.

Startled out of the gold's spell, Tamatoa turned to look at him in surprise. "What? No!" The crab's look quickly turned mutinous. "I found out about this one. I lead us here. I did the legwork. I _bled_ for this! And _I_ am keeping this one."

Maui shook his head, his expression mulish. "I need it. You can have the next one."

Tamatoa drew himself up, standing straighter. It gave him a little extra height over Maui-not too much more, but enough from which he could look down at him. There was an implicit, yet very subtle threat to the posture. Maui wasn't sure it was even a conscious threat on the crab's part or if it was just the natural result of being stared down by a crab taller than oneself that had just viciously killed a bird-lizard creature.

"You _need_ it? You mean you want to give it away to those humans in that village to win back their applause," Tamatoa remarked, annoyed and easily seeing through to Maui's intentions.

It was an offhand statement that may not have been so infuriating at another time, but right now it served as a sharp reminder of the whole incident that spurred their journey and it cut deep. He'd struck a nerve and Maui's words lashed out without thought, "and what do _you_ need it for? You're just a crab!"

Tamatoa jerked back as if physically struck, his antennae sweeping up stiffly and eyes widening-even the soft glow of his bioluminescence flickered sharply in response. Then, just as swiftly, his expression hardened and he narrowed his eyes, which now burned with only thinly veiled, deeply affronted outrage. When the crab spoke, however, it was with a deceptive tranquility and placid calm. This didn't bode well.

"Do you remember that wager we made?" he began slowly, "the first time you pulled up an island?"

Maui flinched. It had been well over a century now, but he remembered and he knew what was coming. The crab had been holding this in reserve for ages. Why did he have to pick _this_ time to use it?

"I see that you do," Tamatoa went on thinly. "I am calling that in now. This one is _mine_."

Heedless, Maui stubbornly refused to back down. Part of him knew that this was a bad idea, but he was worn out and he _needed_ to make things right in that village. They threw them out! They threw _him_ out! And they threw him out because _Tamatoa_ had pillaged their hog farms! That Maui himself might also be complicit in their troubles at the village did not occur to him and his blood was up now. So he scowled and pushed ahead into perilous seas. "No. Not this time. Besides, that bet was just talk anyway," he said, doubling down.

Tamatoa's eyes shifted color in the dark cavern, reverting to the blazing colors he'd displayed earlier, and his antennae quivered faintly with barely contained emotion. "Just _talk?!_ " he snarled suddenly, his calmer tone evaporating. "Does your obsession with these dumb humans mean more than our friendship?"

Maui was in a temper now himself and shot back a biting retort, "does your obsession with treasure?"

Irate, the crab snapped a pincer-a sound that echoed harshly in the vast cavern. "I have stayed by your side for _centuries_ ," he said furiously, but there was no disguising the hurt buried in his voice. " _I_ haven't abandonedyou. Why isn't that enough?"

Maui felt as if someone had dumped cold water over his head, much of his temper instantly doused. It was true that the crab had been his friend for more years than any human lifetime. There was nothing forcing him to stay, either. Maui had always taken it for granted, though, that Tamatoa would be there. Suddenly, he felt exhausted again-so very, very tired. He knew he should probably apologize.

He didn't apologize.

He did capitulate, though. "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "Keep it."

The crab hesitated. "Maui..."

"Take. It." Maui ground out. "Do not make me say it again."

Tamatoa plucked the golden war club from its craggy pedestal, but there was a bit of uncertainty in his expression now.

The walk back through the tunnel maze to their canoe was silent. It had been many decades since they had a serious argument-and even most of those were usually quite trivial in the long run-but this one felt intensely personal, as if some line had been inadvertently crossed.

The silence remained intact even as they set sail and put the weird island to their rudder. It was a race to see whose stubbornness would win out in the end, it would seem.

It was Tamatoa who broke the silence. "You know," he said, cutting through the tension with a somewhat conciliatory tone. "The humans adore you. They won't stay mad long." He paused and it was obvious that the next words were drawn out reluctantly. "But, if you want, I'll stay behind next time."

Maui, who had been sitting moodily by the rudder, looked up at him with tired eyes. The crab was obviously trying to mend fences. Maui knew in his heart that he should do the same, perhaps even initiating an apology. Instead, he said, "maybe that's for the best."

Tamatoa's expression remained level and his antennae twitched, which could possibly have been interpreted as acknowledgement. Maui looked away.

They sailed into the night. Eventually, the tension eased and friendly conversation resumed as the canoe slid silently over the water and put the misty island far behind them on the hazy horizon. The surface of the sea was calm as they sailed on, but the currents beneath seemed to have changed.


	6. Changes

Maui had a problem-a big problem-and he didn't quite know what to do about it.

Tamatoa had finally grown too large to sail. They had both known this day was coming for quite a while now, of course. Maui knew that the crab had been trying to put it off, but inevitably he hadn't been able to avoid moulting forever and had emerged too big to fit even on Maui's upgraded canoe.

True, there were larger boats out there that he might fit on. Those boats, however, could not be crewed by just the pair of them. They required more hands to properly man the rigging. Even if Maui had been able to find humans willing to crew such a ship, he knew it was not a viable solution in the long run. Even beyond finding a crew, there was little way to carry sufficient supplies to keep up with he crab's voracious appetite on a long journey either. Finding a temporary workaround would only be delaying the reality of the situation.

It was also exceedingly unlikely that he would have found any willing humans for the task of crewing a ship anyway. The mortals were terrified of Tamatoa, which was, to be fair, an understandable reaction. The crab was now more than twice Maui's height and immeasurably heavier-having filled out from his leaner post-adolescent years to a sturdy adult weight. He looked every inch the monster of Lalotai now, despite his tendency towards more human expressions and mannerisms picked up from centuries with Maui. In the dark, he was the stuff of glowing, psychedelic nightmares for any human who unwittingly stumbled across him.

Thankfully, such encounters were rare. True to his word, Tamatoa had not set foot near a village with Maui in many decades. Instead, the crab tended to find someplace sunny and warm to snooze while Maui was amongst the mortals. Nevertheless, Maui had been called upon more than once to calm down a panicking villager who had discovered a giant crab sleeping somewhere upon their island. Tamatoa had brushed off these encounters irritably, gracelessly, and with ill-humor, but fortunately without any undue trouble. Any mortals running across him tended to have the good sense to just flee in terror back to the village anyway, giving Maui the opportunity to smooth things over.

Maui was concerned, though, about what might transpire if any of the humans ever elected to attack the crab rather than flee. He wasn't worried about his friend, of course. After all, he'd seen Tamatoa effortlessly snap a palm tree truck cleanly in half with a claw before. The pair of them had fought innumerable creatures together over the years, too. The crab could easily make short work of anyone attacking him. He wouldn't hesitate to defend himself, either. No, it was the humans Maui was worried about. He didn't want them to get hurt or, worse, blame the demigod for it.

Maui hoped it wouldn't come to that. He didn't even want to consider what might happen if it did. Part of him thought it might be an inevitability, though. Tamatoa was far from the tiny, adorable crab he had been when Maui found him. The spunky feistiness that had been so hilariously cute in his younger years had matured into a fierce aggression, backed by the size and strength to make it a formidable threat and a willingness to eat basically anything he could fit into his mouth. Frankly, Tamatoa was dangerous.

This brought his thoughts back around to his current problem, however. He had to figure out what to do with Tamatoa now that he'd outgrown their boat at last. He couldn't stay here, though-that much was certain.

They had come to this island since it apparently had an ideal spot, safely hidden away, for the crab to molt. Maui wasn't sure exactly what all that entailed and had never asked, but just filed it under 'crab things' and added it to their routine as necessary-usually once every decade or so, though the frequency had dramatically slowed as Tamatoa grew older. There was a village on the other side of the island where Maui would stay and bask in the attentions of the mortals for the couple of months until his friend would reemerge. All in all, it was a system that had worked out well for centuries.

Until now, of course. This was a small island and it just wasn't capable of sustaining both a giant crab and a thriving human village. There simply weren't enough resources available to feed everyone. They had lingered here for several extra months now while Maui had procrastinated and already it was putting pressure on everyone involved. He had to do something soon or risk the ire of the villagers.

Maui sighed and his eyes sought out his old friend. Tamatoa was settled in the sun on the soft sand of the beach, well above the high water mark. He was carefully arranging some glittering little trinkets on his shell. It was another odd quirk the crab had adopted of late, though Maui was perplexed as to why. The crab had always been more than just a bit vain, but this was something else entirely.

He had asked about it once. Tamatoa had first testily responded with something rather cutting about Maui's own tattoos. Then when Maui pressed further, Tamatoa had snidely replied that it made him more than 'just a crab.'

Maui didn't ask again.

The truth was, Maui knew he only had two options for dealing with this now. He either had to find a permanent, private island home for Tamatoa or he would have to return him to Lalotai. Maui knew just how well the second option would go over with his friend, who had absolutely zero desire to return to his homeland and had made his thoughts abundantly clear on the matter when it was subtly suggested.

That left only one thing to do. Now he just had to do it. Maybe it was for the best, all things considered.

Reluctantly, Maui got to his feet. Nearby, Tamatoa looked up from admiring the sun's sparkle on the handful of items he'd applied to his shell. He gave the demigod a questioning look. Maui sighed again. "Look, I'm going to go figure this all out, okay? I'll be back in a few days."

Tamatoa gave him an unreadable look, but flicked his antennae briefly in acknowledgement. "Well, you know where I'll be." It wasn't as if he could go anywhere else.

The crab went back to fiddling with his shiny things.

Maui nodded, mostly to himself, and started off. He passed by their double-hulled canoe, abandoned uselessly on the beach, looking at it with a touch of regret. It would do them little good now. He opted instead for a swifter one-man canoe he had acquired from the villagers. It took little effort to prepare the smaller boat and he was underway in no time at all.

As he left the island behind, Maui glanced back at the beach. Tamatoa was standing now, watching the canoe glide away. He couldn't see the crab's face at this distance, but he suspected it wore the same expression his own did as he sailed off alone for the first time in centuries.

Tamatoa watched him go, antennae drooping limply forward until they trailed on the ground. There was nothing he could do. He'd put off molting, and thereby growing larger, for enough years until it was physically painful and absolutely unavoidable. Eventually all things must change, though, and now here they were.

It's was true that their friendship had grown strained since that long-ago argument over Haunui, the golden warclub. As tense as things had become between them, though, it was very nearly all Tamatoa had ever known. He wasn't ready for it to end. He didn't want to give up what he had. So he clung tenaciously to the threads that were left, even as could feel that things were coming apart.

Now he was stranded alone on this tiny seamount with it's pathetic human village. He didn't know what Maui had planned, but as far as Tamatoa was concerned, it had better not involve returning to Lalotai. The demigod had oh-so-casually dropped the suggestion into conversation at one point, thinking he was being subtle and clever, and Tamatoa had not been amused. He was no fool. He knew Maui would prefer to send him away so he could focus on his human pets and he had said as much. There was a great deal of yelling involved that evening, to say the least.

He felt a flare of anger just thinking about it. Besides all that, life in Lalotai was _hard_. He had not been back since Maui had brought him to the surface world ages ago, but he remembered that much. There was always a bigger monster waiting-an endless string of danger and fighting for basic survival and Tamatoa wanted no part of it. He'd made himself quite clear on the matter, he thought. He preferred his easy existence here in the surface world, where the food was better and was less likely to fight back.

The canoe slipped behind the horizon, disappearing from sight.

All the anger swiftly went out of him and Tamatoa sprawled miserably on the sand. He was going to miss sailing.

Maui was gone for seven days. Tamatoa had waited near their little beach for most of that time, although he may have snuck off on the fifth night to stealthily steal a few swine from behind the village on the sly. He was hungry and supplies were low, after all. He hadn't been spotted at the deed and Maui was nowhere around, so he was utterly unconcerned about it. He'd agreed to stay away from the villages while Maui was _visiting_ them. Nothing had ever been said about raiding them while he was away. Besides, it was only a problem if he got caught.

On the seventh morning, Maui's borrowed canoe appeared on the horizon. Tamatoa's antennae perked when he caught sight of it and he rose from the sand, glad to see the demigod return despite himself. His excitement quickly turned to perplexed confusion, however, as the canoe angled away from their beach and skimmed around to the other side of the island.

Annoyance followed confusion and he watched the canoe vanish with narrowed eyes. Was he going straight to that human village? Why? He contemplated marching straight over to make his feelings known and demand an explanation, but resisted the urge. Instead, he settled heavily back on the sand with a huff.

Later that afternoon, something large drifted around the bend of the coastline towards their cove. Tamatoa blinked in confusion, then stood up and squinted to try and figure out what exactly he was looking at. As it came closer, he got a better look. It appeared to be a makeshift barge-assembled of several old canoes, stripped of masts and rigging and lashed together in a configuration not unlike the hodgepodge ships the Kakamora used. It wasn't simply drifting aimlessly, either. No, it was being tugged along by a large whale with familiar tattoo-like markings-Maui.

It was ridiculous. Tamatoa was halfway amused at the contrived convenience of it, but equally dismayed as he was certain that Maui expected him to board the thing and be hauled off like so much cargo to some other place away from the demigod's precious humans.

The demigod-turned-whale dragged the hideous thing as close to the beach as he could in that form, then flashed back to his human look to drag it the rest of the way. He looked immensely pleased with himself, too. Splashing out of the water, he gave Tamatoa a wide grin. "I've got it all figured out," he declared cheerfully, throwing out his arms as if he expected applause for his brilliance.

Tamatoa looked at the demigod, then looked at the barge, then back to Maui. "I am not getting on that thing," he said, deadpan.

Maui was undeterred. "Now, don't be like that. It's perfectly safe," he assured. "And besides, it's not that far a trip." As he spoke, the demigod was busily gathering the baskets of Tamatoa's stuff from their old canoe and stacking them on the barge.

He narrowed his eyes, suspicious. "Not that far to _where_?"

Catching the Tamatoa's meaning, Maui quickly moved to assuage his concerns. "Not Lalotai, I promise." He flashed him a boastful grin. "No, I pulled up your very own island!"

"You.. pulled up an island for me?" Tamatoa repeated back, somewhat dubious.

"Yep," Maui said enthusiastically, putting the last basket aboard and tying it down, "and you're gonna love it." He gestured to the barge entreatingly, "now, if you will just step aboard..."

Tamatoa contemplated arguing further, but there really was no point. He knew he couldn't stay here, so he didn't have much other choice. With a reluctant grumble, he did as he was asked. Gingerly, he stepped onto the rickety barge. It was poorly balanced and wobbly, but managed to hold his weight without sinking or coming apart as long as he kept his center of gravity low. So there was that.

Maui gave him a lopsided smile. "It'll be fine," he said. "You'll see."

Still absurdly cheerful, Maui waded back into the deeper water. With a flash of blue light, he was back in the shape of a whale and took up the ropes trailing from the barge and gave it a pull. The barge jerked roughly forward and Tamatoa dropped from his low crouch to instead lay flat on the tethered canoes for stability, while muttering unflattering things about the entire arrangement. Then the rotten barge was moving off the beach, drifting away from the island to places unknown.

Maui pulled the barge through the night. Tamatoa endeavored to at least _try_ and enjoy the trip, as it was likely the last time he'd ever be on the sea. It was bittersweet, he supposed as he looked up at the millions of glittering stars overhead, burning bright on a moonless eve. The night sky always looked bigger and more brilliant from a boat at sea. He trailed his antennae in the water, watching ripples of glowing blue-green phytoplankton activate and swirl in their wake. Yes, he would miss this.

At dawn, an island appeared on the horizon. Their pace was far slower than a canoe under sail and it took the better part the morning to reach the island's shores. Maui, still transformed as a whale, moved in behind the barge as they neared the shore and pushed it into the shallows where it ground to a halt. It was a vast cove where they had landed, with a broad swath of soft white sand and a wide apron of shallow sea grass flats extending a long ways out into the clear water-well beyond the reach of the cove itself. No barrier reef protected it, but here on the leeward side of the island the sea was calm, with only small waves lapping gently against the shore.

Maui had already shifted back to his human skin and was unloading the baskets from the barge, cheerfully humming to himself.

Tamatoa, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic-apprehensive even-as he reluctantly clambered off the unsteady barge and waded through the shallows for the last bit of distance to the beach. Nevertheless, Maui's enthusiasm had always been a highly contagious disease and when the demigod beckoned him to come explore the new island, he couldn't refuse.

And so they wandered the island together. Beyond the beach, wide verdant fields lead to an open, breezy forest and rolling hills beyond-sloping upward to higher elevations in the distance. It was obviously quite an extensive island, as Maui was quick to point out.

They made paths through the widely spaced trees of the forest, which was abundantly overgrown with fruit trees-something Maui also made a point of mentioning.

Beyond the forest, in the hills, they found several large caverns. Nothing terribly special about them, really. They hid neither treasures nor lurking creatures. However, they were plenty large enough for a giant crab to shelter in; yet another thing highlighted by Maui-the-tour-guide.

They climbed up the steeper paths to the headland, a tall bluff overlooking the windward side of the island and offered a commanding view of the surrounding waters all around. Maui noted that there were several major currents running near the island, making it easy to visit by canoe. It would be easy to spot an inbound traveler approaching, too, he went on to say.

Looking back across the island from this, the highest point, they could see the cove where they had landed. Maui generously noted that the shallows by the cove went pretty far out and were teeming with fish.

Maui was obviously very proud of this island.

Maui was the worst used-canoe salesmen that there ever was.

Tamatoa gritted his teeth, but let the demigod go through his spiel uninterrupted. The sun was just setting when they finished their tour of this delightful little terrarium and returned to the cove.

Maui, his enthusiasm unabated, turned to Tamatoa with a blithe grin and threw his arms wide to encompass the whole island. "Well? Whatcha think? Pretty amazing, yeah?" The expectant look on the demigod's face made it clear he was awaiting praise and gratitude.

Tamatoa looked down at him blankly for a long moment, trying to keep his temper in check. Finally, he found some words that didn't begin with colorful curses and slurs against Maui's character, his ancestry, and his idiotic good cheer.

"Do you really expect me to stay here? In this little enclosure? Forever?" he asked slowly, a note of disbelief crawling into his voice.

Maui's proud expression began to dissolve.

Tamatoa went on, his anger starting to bloom despite attempting to keep ahold of it. "After literally _centuries_ , you're just going to leave me here, forget all about me, and sail off to your humans?"

The demigod's expression darkened and he immediately went on the defensive. "I hauled this island up _for you_. So that _you_ could have a safe place to stay. Because _you_ don't want to go back to Lalotai."

Tamatoa narrowed his eyes, glaring down at Maui accusingly. "And you'd just rather dump me in Lalotai, wouldn't you? Back with all the other monsters. Not your problem anymore, huh?"

Maui returned his glare, but avoided the question. "This is the better option and you know it," he said instead. "Take what's been given to you."

He snapped a pincer sharply and took a half step towards Maui. "And what if I refuse?"

"You don't have any other options," Maui shot back and Tamatoa noticed his hand tightening around his fish hook. Would Maui really use that hook against him? Once, Tamatoa would have never considered it a possibility. Now he wasn't so sure.

They glared at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Maui stood tense and stiff-backed, knuckles white. Tamatoa clicked his claws lightly, a movement restrained to just the barest tapping.

It wasn't worth it. He knew Maui was right-there really wasn't any other option. This floating zoo was at least better than being forced back to Lalotai, he figured.

Tamatoa backed down. He lowered his claws and took a step back, looking away. "Fine," he said heavily. "I'll stay here."

Maui relaxed, grip on his hook slackening. His expression softened, clearly picking up on Tamatoa's dejection. "Look," he said, more kindly, "I'll be back to visit all the time. It'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

Tamatoa wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure here.

Defeated and unhappy, he settled onto the sand with a sigh. Maui, actually looking a bit contrite, came to sit beside him. He set his hook down, but Tamatoa couldn't help but notice that he kept it within easy reach. Nevertheless, the demigod reached out to put a hand on Tamatoa's leg and let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry about all this," he said quietly.

Tamatoa blinked in shock, turning to look down at him. He'd never heard the demigod apologize for _anything_ before-not ever. It took him a moment to figure out how to respond. Finally, he dipped an antenna in assent. "We knew this would happen eventually," he said, trying to play it off as if it were no big deal.

Maui nodded. "I'll try to think of something better," he said, "to make this just temporary."

Tamatoa said nothing, knowing that it didn't really make any difference. This was just the way things were.

The rest of the night passed in silence, neither sleeping. In the morning, Maui said his goodbyes and promised to return soon. There was no great drama to the farewell, all of the drama having been thoroughly shaken out already. Instead it was as casual as if he was just going for a walk and would be back in a few hours. When all was said and done, Maui shifted his form to that of a giant hawk and took to the skies.

Tamatoa had not intended to watch the hawk leave until he completely disappeared in the distance, but he did anyway.

Silence was left the wake of Maui's departure, descending on the lush, beautiful island with it's fruit-filled forests and sheltering caverns and shallows full of fish.

Tamatoa was alone.


	7. A Small Plot of Land

Time passes quickly without anything to mark its passage. At first, Tamatoa had spent a fair amount of time on the headland, watching to see if Maui was returning. Nevertheless, after a while with no sails on the horizon, he had eventually ceased to go up there at all. He wasn't really even certain how long he'd been on his little island anymore. He'd long since investigated every last inch of it and knew every blade of grass and every rock formation from top to bottom. He had uncovered every remotely interesting item to be found, too-every colorful stone and every pearly seashell. When he'd finished with that, he started over and did a second sweep to make sure he didn't miss any. And a third. And another after that. He'd lost count after a while, but that didn't change the fact that there was nothing else to find.

When all that was thoroughly exhausted and the island had relinquished all its goodies, he spent his days organizing the treasures he'd brought with him to this miserable little island. He would admire how they glittered in the sunshine and contemplate when and where he had acquired each of them before putting them back in their baskets again.

Eventually, it seemed silly to put them away. There was no need to store them, after all. He wasn't going anywhere and there was no one to take them. Why should he hide them away? They looked so pretty in the sun, too.

He piled them all onto his shell, adding them to the small collection he had artfully added before. There wasn't quite enough to completely cover it, but it was plenty to make it sparkle. He spent hours arranging them to suit his tastes-shifting them around, then rearranging them as his mood struck him. Then he would find a nice, well-lit spot to admire his handiwork with delight.

He wanted more, though. There were gaps where his shell was visible through the treasure. He needed more. Unfortunately, there was nothing more to be found on the island. Maybe Maui would remember and bring him something if he ever came back.

Nothing changed on the island, nothing new happened, and time sped by. Until something finally did happen.

It was a windy afternoon that found Tamatoa rearranging his collection for what must be the thousandth time in the warm sunlight on a hill above the island's protected cove. It was only by chance that he lifted his gaze from the enticing gleam of his shell and spotted something out of the ordinary. He instantly snapped out of his haze, antennae sweeping forward in surprise.

There was a canoe approaching.

* * *

Maui was enjoying himself immensely. He had pulled off what he considered his greatest feat yet, stealing fire from the underworld as a gift to the mortals. It had been a difficult task, but he had succeeded and had earned a fantastic new tattoo in the process. The humans were utterly ecstatic in a way he hadn't experienced in ages. He'd sailed from village to village, spreading the gift to new tribes and reveling in their adoration and thanks. There had been feasting and celebration in every single settlement without fail. Some of the festivities went on for months, so grateful were they for this most useful gift. Maui soaked it all up eagerly. He couldn't remember a time when he felt so overwhelmed with their affections.

The festivities in one village would end and he'd go to the next and the next after that. Eventually, though, there were no more new villages to pass the fire to. The celebrations dried up as the mortals returned to their normal routines. Maui became an afterthought, his services no longer needed for now. They still tolerated him as a guest, of course, but there was less interest in hearing the stories he'd told over and over and no great celebrations in his honor.

Even surrounded by great crowds of the mortals, he began to feel lonely again.

As his loneliness grew, he recalled that he hadn't gone back to pay Tamatoa a visit yet. He'd been so caught up in everything else that it had fallen to the back of his mind. He wondered how long it had been. Surely it couldn't have been that long, he figured. There was never really any urgency to do anything for an immortal, though. Time passes without one realizing it sometimes. and it occurred to him that it might have actually been quite a while since he set the crab up on his island. He suddenly felt a small stab of guilt at having waited so long. Even while not present, the crab could still apparently guilt trip him.

He was sure Tamatoa would understand the delay, though. Maui brightened suddenly, a thought striking him. He could tell the crab all about his adventure to retrieve fire! The humans might have heard it enough times for the effect to have worn off, but he bet his old friend would be impressed to hear it.

With that thought in mind, he made his excuses to the chief of the village he was currently a guest of, then headed for his canoe with a cheerful spring in his step.

* * *

Tamatoa watched the canoe approach the island, trying to suppress his excitement. The canoe was a medium-sized vessel, with double hulls, not unlike the one he and Maui had sailed before he had outgrown it. It had to be him.

He scrambled down to the cove, making no further attempt to conceal his enthusiasm to greet his absent friend. Despite their previous troubles, he missed the demigod and was eager to have someone to talk to.

When he reached the beach, though, he realized something was amiss.

The canoe was tacking erratically, guided by amateurish handling. Battling with the stiff wind of the afternoon, it slipped sideways suddenly and the sail swung wildly to the side. The canoe was at the mercy of the wind and current now, pushed fast to the side until it ran aground with a crash on the shoals at the edge of the seagrass flats. The wind grabbed at the sail viciously, flipping the doomed boat over, snapping the mast, and swamping it completely in the shallows.

Tamatoa watched this with narrowed eyes. It wasn't Maui. Maui would never have made such an unskilled, clumsy mistake. The conditions were tricky out by those shoals, but not so much as to confound a master wayfinder like Maui.

Nevertheless, it was something new and exciting-the only novel thing to have occurred in ages on this forsaken dirt heap. Tamatoa waded out into the shallows to investigate. The seagrass flats extended far into the sea, but never got deeper than the first couple segments of his legs. It was therefore easy to reach the crashed canoe.

The current was stronger at the edge of the flats where the canoe was swamped. The fast water swirled around his legs as he inspected the wreckage. He saw no sign of whatever humans had been so artlessly piloting the boat. Perhaps they had already been swept away by the current. It was of little interest to him, though. Indeed, he soon forgot all about the fate of the hapless humans as he caught a flash of shine from under the overturned hull.

He lifted the corner of the canoe with a pincer and smiled wide. The sand was carpeted in gleaming treasures, spilled from the cracked hull and twinkling through ripples of the clear water. Tamatoa laughed in utter delight at his stroke of good fortune.

He spent the rest of the afternoon salvaging every single beautiful piece of this unexpected windfall. Once he'd pulled all the glittery bits from the sand, he'd pulled the canoe apart piece-by-piece to search inside for anything that hadn't fallen out. Everything he found went onto his shell, nicely starting to fill in the gaps in his collection there.

Satisfied that he had picked the wreck clean, he broke the remaining chunks of the boat apart and set them adrift in the current to clear the flats of wreckage. After all, without a warning to mark the spot, perhaps another boat might wash up on the shoals full of treasure.

* * *

Maui had every intention of going straight to Tamatoa's island. However, upon stopping to rest and resupply on a little remote island along the way, he learned that the villagers of that isle were being plagued by some heinous flying creature. He couldn't just sail away while these mortals were being tormented by some stray monster, of course. Tamatoa would understand.

Thus, Maui set out into the jungles of the island with his hook to track down the creature that had been carrying off villagers. The island was covered in low, tangled foliage but lacked the soaring trees of older forests. Instead, the skies were open and the sun bore down heavily as he struggled through the grasping branches and knotty vines.

It didn't take long for him to find the creature-or rather, for the creature to find him. It plummeted out of the sky towards him with a high pitched whine, almost too high to even hear. As it dove towards him, Maui could see that it was an eight-eyed bat-a common monster from Lalotai and one that Maui had experience dealing with. It was barely even a challenge, really. Half bored, he put the creature down easily.

Not finished yet, however, Maui followed the direction is had come from. He tracked back to find it's lair-a dark, rocky cavern in the jungle. Thankfully, there were no traces of other monstrous bats to be found. He was about to leave when he heard a whimper from a dark corner of the cavern. Returning to investigate, he discovered a human child hiding amongst the bones and refuse discarded by the bat-one of the snatched villagers, no doubt. With words of reassurance, he gently picked the child up and carried him back to the village.

The mortals were overjoyed. The child had been the son of a high ranking member of the tribe, who had then insisted Maui stay so they could properly honor him for saving the boy. How could Maui refuse? It would just be a short delay then he'd be on his way again. Tamatoa would understand.

Later, he realized he'd earned yet another new tattoo-a depiction of the eight-eye bat on his arm. He couldn't wait to show it to his old friend, who was surely to appreciate all the new ink he was acquiring.

The celebration went on for more than a week, then Maui said his farewells and took to his canoe again.

* * *

Tamatoa had been peacefully napping, half buried in the sand of the beach as the sunlight gently warmed him. It had become one of his favorite spots-not too hot, but not too cool either. The beach was more than wide enough to accommodate his bulk, even though he had grown still larger as time flew by. The soft sand felt quite nice and was plenty deep enough to comfortably nestle into. Really, it was the simple pleasures like this that he'd come to embrace on this boring island.

He'd been having some lovely dream when his rest was suddenly disturbed, though. Something was climbing on his shell. His thoughts were groggy as he considered that he was alone on this island; and yet _something_ was climbing on his shell!

He came to wakefulness sharply, rising from the sand quickly and twisting his eyestalks to see what it could possibly be. His eyes widened. It was a human. No, it was _two_ humans. "What's this?" he said in surprise. "Where did you come from?"

Clearly, the humans were not expecting to find themselves face to face with a giant crab-particularly not one that could speak-and stood frozen, paralyzed with fear, and stared at him with wide eyes in dull shock. Their terrified reactions were, frankly, priceless. Amused by their panic, Tamatoa started to laugh. He quickly cut himself short, though, when he saw the baskets they were holding. The baskets were filled with his shinies.

Fury seized him as he realized he was being _robbed_. His amusement vanished in an instant. "You are _stealing_ from _me_?" he asked, aghast.

The humans suddenly snapped out of their shock. Abandoning their baskets, which tumbled away and spilled their treasures on the ground, the pair of them attempted to flee-scurrying across his shell to escape. Tamatoa was much quicker, though, and caught both of them up in his claws before they could even get to the edge of his carapace.

He was large enough now to hold a full grown human in each claw and they squirmed uselessly in his grip, yelling and making all sorts of racket. "Hey, where did you come from?" he demanded. Their flailing and gibbering continued, so he gave them a little shake to focus their attention. "Eugh, enough with the wailing. Just answer me."

Finally one of them managed to get their terror under control and respond. "W-we were sailing by the island," he stuttered. "We saw a s-something reflecting the light on the beach, so we came to see what it was." The human shied away as Tamatoa drew his face closer. "We thought the treasure was abandoned."

"We didn't know it was y-yours!" the other human said desperately.

That gave Tamatoa pause. He eyed the humans thoughtfully. "How far off were you when you saw the shine?"

Both the humans glanced at each other, utterly perplexed by the unexpected question, but answered nevertheless.

"Hm." Tamatoa considered this. It was not just vanity that brought the question around, either. Canoes with interesting goodies were occasionally wrecked on the shoals, but not terribly often. Imagine how many more might drift onto the treacherous sandbar if lured in by the glitter of his treasures!

He grinned at the thought. The humans, made nervous by his smile, began to struggle again. Drawn from his thoughts by their squirming, he returned his attention to the pair of thieves. He looked at them with no small amount of contempt.

He'd never forgotten his first encounter with humans. Nor had he forgotten the piercing fear that had accompanied it-the helpless feeling of the net tightening around him when he was young and fragile. He had also not forgotten that Maui had left him here to go pursue their attention, valuing it more than their centuries of friendship. And Maui still hadn't come back, apparently too busy with these dumb humans.

Tamatoa's expression hardened. The humans, sensing danger, began to flail more frantically. "P-please let us go," one begged.

"We're so s-sorry!" the other pleaded, "we p-promise we'll never come b-back!"

Tamatoa was in no mood to be merciful to thieves and there was no one on this forgotten island to judge him-no one to dissuade him. No, he was alone here and could do what he pleased.

He flashed them a wicked grin and increased the force of his grip. The humans shrieked, a collective high, thin wail. Tamatoa thought about the human with the net, all those centuries ago, who would have gladly killed and eaten him when he was just a small, drab little thing. His claws closed tighter and the screaming cut off abruptly with a pop of bone. Spines severed, the two humans were silent in his grasp.

He was about to drop them to the sand and retrieve his fallen treasures when he suddenly thought better of it. He looked contemplatively at the two limp bodies for a long moment, while centuries of artificially imposed mores fell away like a molt. Honestly, it would be a shame to let such bona fortuna go to waste.

It was the best meal he'd had since coming to this bleak island.

* * *

Maui was on his way to Tamatoa's island at last. He knew he had been delayed far too much already and was worried he might have waited too long. What if Tamatoa had forgotten about him?

There was always something, though, to interrupt his journey there. He couldn't very well turn down mortals who needed his help, after all. There was always another monster killing villagers or sinking ships or terrorizing the islands. He was a demigod, it was his job to stop all that. There was always another heroic deed that needed to be done. The adulation he received for it didn't hurt, either. He rode the wave of their affections over and over, from one deed to the next, though it was always so fleeting. When they returned to their lives and bid him farewell, it always left a hole in his heart and an emptiness crept in.

And so when the next mortal came to him, begging for aid in their time of need, he never refused them.

This time, though, there was nothing that would stop him from finally sailing off to see his old friend. He wondered if the crab missed him.

He'd gained more tattoos lately, earned through all his newest victories and accomplishments. They now covered nearly every inch of his skin. He just couldn't wait to show them off and tell Tamatoa how he'd gotten them.

He wondered what the crab was doing while he was away.

Well, he'd find out soon enough. His canoe was prepared and ready to launch-soon he'd be on his way! He put his hands against the hull and pushed it towards the water, but just as the canoe inched forward a frantic voice called from down the beach. He stopped and looked up to see a young woman racing across the sand, hair flying behind her as she ran to him.

"Maui!" she exclaimed, breathless. "Oh, Maui! We need your help!"

He pulled the canoe back up onto the sand and gave her a winning smile. "Well, what's the trouble?" he asked her, secretly eager for another chance to impress.

Grateful and relieved, the woman hurriedly told him of her village's dilemma. There was an enormous bird monster destroying their fields and pillaging their livestock. Maui grinned and agreed to help. Just a small delay, that's all. Duty calls, after all!

Tamatoa would understand.

* * *

Tamatoa was quite pleased with the system he had devised on this rotten little island. Over time he'd perfected it until it was as efficient as a finely rigged canoe. He was quite proud of his accomplishment, too. It made life more interesting and brought him new treasures, which he considered an all around win.

It was flawless.

First he would wade out into the shallow flats towards where the shoals met the strong currents. Dipping his antennae into the swift current, he utilized his long unused skills at detecting signs in the water. It was easy to determine when a boat was approaching, even when they were still beyond the horizon line.

When he detected one approaching, it was time for the next step.

The tall headland, where he had once watched for Maui's canoe on the highland before abandoning the exercise, became useful again. Tamatoa would seat himself on the top of the tall bluff and angle his shell to catch the light _just so_. Inevitably, the gleam would draw distant ships closer to see what was causing it.

When they grew close enough, he would scramble back down to the cove and bury himself partially in the sand to disguise his true nature-leaving just his treasure-encrusted shell visible.

The baited canoe would be drawn towards the cove-and the dangerous shoals-almost without fail. Humans were invariably greedy when it came to large piles of seemingly unattended treasure, it seemed. It was a sentiment he was familiar with and he used it to his advantage.

Many wrecked on the treacherous sandbars, requiring no additional effort to pillage. Tamatoa could simply wade out through the shallows and retrieve any trinkets or interesting things found on the wreck. Others, however, were piloted by more skilled sailors and managed to navigate safely through them to make landfall.

Well, the ones who simply capsized and were swept away by the current were the lucky ones compared to those who actually stepped foot on the island.

Well supplied by wrecks, his collection grew. Well fed by the same, Tamatoa grew as well.

Once he had this system in place, he found he was actually content for the first time since being dumped on this dull island. It wasn't as good a life as he had before, not by any stretch, but he'd grown accustomed to it and had developed this little hobby to keep himself from being overwhelmed by tedium. He was still lonely, but he wasn't bored.

He supposed now he understood all those other monsters he'd encountered over the years with Maui-all inhabiting their own little fiefdoms and doing things not too dissimilar from what he was doing here. If he were a more reflective sort, he might have felt kinship with those long vanquished monsters or even remorse at hastening their demise with the demigod. He wasn't given to such things, though, and the thought never even crossed his mind. Tamatoa wasn't like those other monsters, anyway. Maui had raised him. He was different.

Ah, Maui. Despite knowing that the demigod would _never_ approve of what was going on here, Tamatoa still missed him. He'd given up on waiting for him to return, though. It hurt to even think about it and it made the crushing loneliness feel more oppressive-so he tried not to let his thoughts stray that direction often.

Instead, he filled his free time between enticing ships into the shallows by admiring and curating his treasures. There was _so much_ now and it filled him with happiness. He could lose himself in the glitter of his own shell for hours. He wasn't _just a crab_ now; he was beautiful. It didn't make the loneliness go away, but it did sooth the hurt.

This wasn't the life he had wanted, but he had made the best of it and was content.

* * *

Maui had his canoe all prepared and ready to go. It was waiting on the beach beyond the village. He was going to leave tonight, in the dark to avoid any potential distractions, and sail straight for Tamatoa's island. He was overdue to a point where he felt unbearable guilt about it now. He didn't know how long it had been exactly-but only because he wouldn't admit to himself just how long he had let this get pushed aside. He knew he had waited too long and he wasn't sure that Tamatoa was going to be very understanding at this point.

Guilt gnawed at him day and night now, tainting even the most generous praise from any mortal. No matter how hard he tried to rationalize it, there was no disguising that he had abandoned his friend. He had done the absolute worst thing he knew of. He had done the thing his parents had done to him.

He had to do this now.

While the mortals gathered around the fire in their village and traded stories, he quietly slipped away from the festivities without a word to anyone. He had made a big mistake and he had to do something about it, without being waylaid by anyone else's problems this time.

If he could get off the island unseen, he would be in the clear. It was a short sail from here to the island he had given his friend. No need to stop, no need to resupply, nothing to keep him from making it there this time.

Stealthily, he crept in the dark to where his canoe was waiting. He put his hands on the hull and got ready to heave it into the water.

There was an unseen splash from down the beach, followed by a fit of gasping coughs. Maui inwardly groaned, but went to check it out just the same.

A mortal was washed up in the surf, coughing and sputtering as he dragged himself wearily up out of the water on his hands and knees. Maui rushed to help him, pulling him from the water and supporting his weight as he stumbled up the beach. Maui helped lower the human down to the dry sand and held him steady as he caught his breath.

"Are you okay?" he asked, once the mortal had stopped coughing up water and was breathing more normally. "What happened?"

Waving Maui off for a moment while he gathered his wits about him, the mortal took a long moment to respond. "We were wrecked in the shallows near an island," he finally wheezed. "We thought there was treasure for the taking, but there was a monster instead. The rest of our crew... the rest of the crew is..." He lowered his head to his hands in despair, his whole body shaking.

"Where's this island?" Maui asked, "and what sort of monster?"

The mortal looked up, his face streaked with tears. He pointed off to the horizon. "East of here, up the current." Then he looked to Maui hopelessly. "It was a giant crab."

Maui's blood ran cold.

He grabbed the man's shoulder, perhaps a bit too roughly. "Are you _sure_?" he asked, voice suddenly intense.

The mortal looked startled, but nodded vigorously. "It was huge and it's shell was covered in treasure. I swear it!"

Maui's heart sank, but his expression went rigid and stony.

"The village is just over the ridge. Go," he tersely told the castaway, pointing into the dark.

The man nodded and, perhaps intimidated by Maui's sudden intensity, went quickly.

Grimly, Maui pushed his canoe into the sea. He was finally on the way to Tamatoa's island.

* * *

Tamatoa sat on the headland, eyes watching the distant currents.

A sail appeared on the horizon and he smiled.


	8. The Last Thing You Should Do

From high on the bluff overlooking the sea, Tamatoa watched the latest canoe glide closer to the island. It was still too distant to make out any fine details, but he could see it was small-likely just a little single-man boat. Just a modest catch today, then. Most small ships held little treasure of interest, but occasionally one would have something unexpected aboard. Regardless, it was such minimal effort to draw them in that it was always worth it. Even if bare of shiny stuff, it still meant an early lunch.

The canoe angled sharply towards the island, moving fast over the waves. It was time to head down to the beach. Tamatoa hurried down the hillside, cutting quickly through the forest on a well-worn path to the cove below. It as imperative to beat the canoe there, otherwise the ruse would be shattered. He had this down to an art, though, and arrived with plenty of time to spare.

With a glance up to gauge the slant of the sun's rays, he selected a good spot with excellent lighting on the beach. With his back to the sea, he nestled carefully down into the warm sand. He dug in until the outer edge of his carapace was just barely settled into the earth, leaving just the glittering dome of his shell visible, sparkling enticingly in the late morning sun. Only his antennae, hidden safely out of sight from the water behind his shell, remained above the sand to indicate he was anything other than a massive pile of treasure.

Perfect.

Tamatoa felt excitement building in him as he patiently waited. This was the fun part and the rush of anticipation never failed to drive away the specter of boredom. As his only real entertainment on this monotonous rock, it was always a thrill-waiting for the inevitable crash or landfall of an approaching canoe. This one was likely to make it safely past the shoals, too, being so small and having such a shallow displacement. That, of course, brought an additional level of fun to the game. His antennae quivered slightly.

He heard the ripple of a sail in the wind. So close now.

* * *

After sailing through the night, the island he had once pulled from the sea came into view in the morning. It rose gracefully from the sea to a steep highland overlooking the surrounding waters, much as Maui remembered. What he didn't remember, however, was there being a glint of light from that tall clifftop. Even at this distance, it could be seen like a gleaming beacon-a bright flash of gold. As they approached closer, however, the flicker of light vanished suddenly. It was odd, but he wasn't concerned with it right now. Maui frowned, his mouth set in a grim line.

This wasn't how he planned to return here.

Maui desperately wanted to call the shipwrecked castaway he'd found a liar. He wanted his words to just be the fevered imaginings of a half-drowned man. Surely his old friend couldn't have done those things. The mortal had swallowed too much seawater, perhaps, and came up with some fantastic nightmare. He was just playing a joke on Maui-just a little joke. Maybe it was a different crab monster. After all, there must be more of them out there somewhere, right?

Except the mortal had no reason to lie. There were no other crab monsters. There was no other island along this particular current that a man could drift from and survive.

Yet, his mind rebelled at even considering it. Tamatoa wouldn't attack ships. It was ridiculous! Not Tamatoa. Not his friend.

He rounded the bend of the island and headed towards the sheltered little cove where he had said goodbye so long ago. The sails fluttered in the breeze as he skimmed over the shallow water.

There was an enormous pile of treasure on the beach-nearly overflowing with pearls and iridescent shells and glittery trinkets. It was _far_ more than he remembered Tamatoa possessing, which at their last parting only filled a handful of baskets. He squinted at it in confusion as the canoe slid through the water. It seemed unlike Tamatoa to just leave his collection laying about on some beach, unattended and unprotected.

And where had it all _come from_ , anyway?

The canoe gently scraped onto the sand of the beach.

Maui leapt lightly to the sand, not bothering to secure the canoe or even to take up his hook in his distraction. Perplexed, he peered at the mount of treasure. For a brief second, he though he saw a quick flick of pink and purple from the other side of it.

Oh.

Ohhh-

The realization struck him suddenly, only seconds before the pile of treasure began to move-rising from the sand.

Tamatoa had _grown_.

* * *

First, the telltale scrape of a hull on sand. Then footsteps crunching across the beach. Tamatoa's antennae twitched. It was go time.

He rose swiftly from the earth, shaking the sand from himself with an eager grin. Claws coming up at the ready, he spun to lunge at-

" _Maui?!_ "

Tamatoa stood stock still in utter shock, frozen in his tracks even as he had been about to attack. He blinked, eyes wide and mouth agape. The demigod, absent for uncounted ages, was standing before him at last.

Uhoh.

Well, this was awkward. For what it was worth, Maui was staring up at Tamatoa in similar dumbstruck shock.

It suddenly occurred to Tamatoa how small the demigod was. How long had it been since he had last seen him? He didn't even know. It was impossible to tell, so long had he been on this island without anything to mark the passage of time. How funny that he could still remember being small enough for Maui to pick him up.

In the long stunned moment that seemed to go on interminably, he noticed that Maui had a great deal more tattoos than he once did. Almost every patch of skin was covered now, down to his wrists and ankles. It was impressive, really. What had he been up to all this time? And was he doing something different with his hair now? It looked like he was doing something different with it, yes. Maybe washing it with something new.

Tamatoa shook free of those ridiculous thoughts. Maui was here at last. There was a flare of gladness in him. _Maui was here!_ Then anger flowed swiftly in. Where had he _been_ all this time? His ire snuffed out again just as quickly, replaced by another flicker of happiness. Maui was here _now!_

And so Tamatoa simply stood there, vacillating sharply between joy and anger. Another stray thought, however, went unheeded in the back of his mind-a far more concerning one that he really shouldn't ignore.

* * *

Maui took an instinctive step back as the crab emerged from the sand. He stared in a mix of horror and awe as Tamatoa's full size was revealed. The crab towered over him now, nearly four times as tall as Maui and with an impossibly wide leg span. It was incredibly jarring and threw into sharp relief just how long he must have been away. Every inch of the crab's broad shell was decorated in shimmering treasures, leaving not even the slimmest glimpse of it's natural color. Where had he gotten it all?

Maui couldn't help but flinch back when the crab spun suddenly and started aggressively towards him, a rather toothy grin on his face and a wild look in his eyes. Tamatoa froze when he saw him, however, instantly aborting what certainly looked like the start of an attack-something Maui did not fail to note.

His old friend stared at him, slack jawed. A variety of expressions flickered across the crab's face over the long, silent moment, but eventually settled on one that actually looked rather pleased to see him-an almost warm smile emerging.

It made Maui hesitate and, for a moment, he nearly forgot his purpose. He very nearly forgot it all and just went to joyously greet his friend instead.

Then he thought about the hoard of treasure on the crab's back-treasure that could never have come from this island or by any legitimate means.

His eyes narrowed. "Tamatoa, what have you _done?_ "

All the warmth drained away from the crab's face and his smile faded.

"What have _I_ done?" he said, irritation already rising in his voice. "Where have _you_ been?!"

Maui glared sharply up at him, ignoring the crab's question. "Is it true what I've heard?"

Tamatoa matched his glare note for note. "I have no idea what you've _heard_ , man" he fired back. "I haven't seen you in _ages!_ "

"I was on my way here," Maui said, although it sounded a touch defensively even to his own ears. Then his tone sharpened, "and then I find out that you are _causing shipwrecks?_ Is it true?"

Please say it's not true.

Tamatoa flicked his antennae dismissively. "Is it my fault some rubes can't navigate across a simple shoal?"

Maui stared at the crab in disbelief. With a sinking feeling, he remembered the winking flash of golden light from the headland and the seemingly unattended pile of treasure on the beach. It all came together with horrible clarity.

"I saw you," he said slowly as it all dawned upon him. "On the cliff. You're-" He trailed off, trying to wrap his mind around the impossible. "You're luring them here."

"If greed causes humans to wreck in the shallows, who am I to argue?" the crab said matter-of-factly, as if it were nothing at all. He didn't even have the decency to sound contrite about it.

Maui felt his insides twist. "And the humans aboard?"

Tamatoa gave him a chilling smile.

Maui felt dizziness sweep through him, suddenly lightheaded. No. He couldn't have. No, not the little crab he could once hold in his hands. No.

"You-" Maui said, but faltered in horror. "You _didn't-_ "

The crab didn't even bother to deny it. There was no hint of shame. "Waste not," he quipped.

No shame at all.

Maui's blood boiled and he saw red. But when he spoke, it was colored with anguish. "Why? Why would you _do_ this?! You were my friend!"

Now Tamatoa was roused back to wrath, his eyes narrowed. "You left me here _alone!_ "

"That's not a good reason!" Maui blurted out, a mix of exasperation and desperate anger.

"You _never came back!_ " the crab continued, voice filled with accusation. He took a swift step towards Maui, looming over him.

Maui felt the sharp prick of guilt at hearing that truth stated so plainly, but it was swiftly overwhelmed and drowned out by his outrage. His voice turned cold. "I should kill you for this, you-" He couldn't even think of anything bad enough to call him. "-you miserable _bottom feeder_. If it was anyone else-"

Tamatoa didn't back down this time. "Just try it then, man. I dare you!" he challenged from his superior height.

Maui had a terrible decision to make now. He clenched his empty fists and it now occurred to him that his fishhook was laying on the deck of his canoe behind him, well outside of easy reach. He was sure that fact was not lost on Tamatoa, who had always been too observant for his own good.

Maui had put down countless monsters over the centuries without a second thought. This was different, though-this was his friend, the crab he had raised from a tiny little thing. He couldn't just couldn't do it. Maybe there was another option, though.

"If it were anyone else," he repeated icily, "I would." He gave the crab a piercing look, pure fury burning in his eyes as he made his choice. "You're nothing but a monster. And monsters belong in Lalotai. It's time you went back."

Tamatoa snapped his claws, no idle threat now. "I don't think so."

"Too bad, you're going back."

"Not a chance."

With shocking speed, the crab lunged.

* * *

Tamatoa was absolutely furious. After all this time, Maui finally decided to show his face and then proceed to threaten him with further exile? Wasn't this floating prison enough? Well, he had only just begun to actually enjoy this place. He wasn't going to be tossed out again!

It did occur to him, however, that perhaps he hadn't thought things through when he leapt at the demigod. It was admittedly a rash and poorly considered thing to do. He had no plan. He also had no real desire to kill his friend. Neither did he want to be sent to Lalotai, though.

Maui had left his hook on the canoe, so if Tamatoa was to have any chance of winning this fight he had to strike first and before he could get it to it. Over centuries of adventuring with the demigod, he had learned a fundamental truth-the best way to gain the advantage in a fight was often surprise.

Man, did Maui look surprised.

Clearly, the demigod wasn't expecting him to make the first move. The look on his face was proof of that. He recovered quickly, though, and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the snap of Tamatoa's pincers. Maui was on his feet in an instant and made a dash towards his canoe. Tamatoa had anticipated this and darted over to cut him off, reaching the canoe first. He gave it a quick push with one of his legs, lifting it off the sand and sending it-and Maui's fishhook-drifting slowly into the lagoon.

That evened the odds.

It also infuriated Maui, who leapt at him with a roar and the fight was on.

Tamatoa was holding his own, superior size working his favor. However, he was definitely out of practice for this sort of thing. Ambushing dumb little humans on the beach was lazy work, but dealing with Maui was an entirely different matter. Even without his hook, the demigod was putting up a fierce fight. If Tamatoa could just get him pinned down and subdued, maybe he could force Maui to abandon any notion of sending him to Lalotai.

It was a flimsy plan and Tamatoa knew it, but he'd started this fight and now he had to finish it somehow. Even now, he was reluctant to actually do serious damage to the demigod who had been his friend for centuries. His heart just wasn't in it. He just didn't want to get sent away again.

Perhaps that's why Maui managed to catch him distracted and slam his shoulder into him, knocking him off balance. Losing his footing, Tamatoa went down hard in the sand. He scrambled to get back up and defend against the next blow, but it never came. Maui wasn't there. He looked around for him frantically, anticipating an attack from elsewhere. Then he froze.

The canoe had drifted back to the beach.

Maui had used his moment while Tamatoa got back up to race to the landed canoe. The demigod now stood firm on the beach, his face twisted up with fury and his hook in his hand.

Tamatoa could not tear his gaze away from the sight of that hook, glowing harshly blue even in the bright morning sunlight, and for the first time in his long life, he was afraid of Maui.

He took a step backwards, then another. "Wait," he began nervously, "Maui-"

There was a flash of blue and a hawk's high scream. It was over before it even started. Maui struck lightning fast and before he could blink, Tamatoa felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. Once, he never would have imagined that his friend would use that hook against him. His last thoughts as his vision blurred were of betrayal. Betrayal and loss.

Darkness closed around him.

* * *

"Tamatoa."

It was dark and warm and cozy.

"Tamatoa," Maui's voice came again, "come on out."

Tiny antennae poked out of a hole in the earth. "No, I can't!" the little crab cried piteously.

He had outgrown his borrowed shell, the one he had been carrying since Maui first brought him out of Lalotai. He needed a new one, but had no idea where to find one in the surface world. It was too late now and he even couldn't go look for one, unprotected as he was. So, he'd stayed buried in his little burrow and refused to come out.

"Hey," Maui beckoned gently, peering into the dark hole. "It's okay, I promise," he soothed. "Just come out."

"I _can't_ ," he repeated, a note of panic taking over.

"Well," Maui said, his tone light-teasing, but not mocking. "I guess I'll have to find another tiny crab monster to give this to."

Safe inside the burrow, Tamatoa did not reply. Although, his curiously was piqued.

"It's _shiny_ ," Maui said enticingly, drawing out the word.

At this, Tamatoa very tentatively poked one eye out of the burrow. Then another.

Maui held out something in his hands so that he could see it and Tamatoa let out a tiny gasp. It was a spiral shell-bigger than his old shell, but more importantly it was _shiny_! The shell was a pale tan-gold color, polished with an iridescent sheen and had pale white streaks along the whorls. It was perfect.

Maui grinned. "See?" he said triumphantly. "Now c'mon out. Everything will be fine."

He set the shell down near the burrow's entrance. Tamatoa scurried out and slipped into the new shell hurriedly.

He looked up at Maui, eyes full of gratitude and relief. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" Maui smiled and laughed warmly. "What are friends for?"

* * *

It was dark and cold and damp. Tamatoa woke slowly, feeling dizzy and battered. The wisps of a forgotten dream slipped away as he came back to consciousness, elusive as vapor on the wind. It left behind a hollow feeling in its wake.

Where was he? It took a few moments to get his eyes to focus, foggy as his mind was. Once his vision sharpened, he suddenly wished it hadn't.

The landscape around him was alien and entirely foreign, but not without a vaguely distant familiarity. He had not been here in more centuries than he could even count, but he knew where he was nevertheless. He was back in Lalotai.

Once again, he was alone. Maui was nowhere in sight.

He shook his head, still trying to clear the fuzziness from his thoughts. He looked around to take his bearings. He was sprawled in an open clearing, amidst a handful of tall neon trees, their palm-like fronds covered in suckers like octopus tentacles. Coralline polyps like bushy plants glowed softly purple, scattered in low-lying clusters along the ground. In the distance, the haunting cries of unknown creatures drifted across the surreal land.

He pushed up from the ground with great effort, getting his legs back under him unsteadily. He knew well enough that it wasn't wise to just lay there and wait for some larger creature to come by. Standing felt awful, though, and he was aching all over, so he slid back down to the ground with a huff-just to rest a bit longer, he assured himself.

A sudden, terrible thought caught him and he glanced quickly over his shoulder at this shell. Relief washed over him as he found his treasure was still there. At least he still had that.

How had Maui even gotten him back here? By all accounts, it should seem a near impossibility. Even another makeshift raft would have a difficult time supporting him now and that was assuming there was an entrance to Lalotai close enough and large enough for him to pass through. He squinted around him, looking for some indication of how he might have arrived. There was nothing to explain it, though. Coming up with no sensible answers, Tamatoa just gave up wondering and marked it down as some stupid heroic demigod nonsense.

It didn't matter anyway. It didn't change the facts. He was stuck down here, exiled and alone.

He let his gaze drift upward. There was no sky, no stars in Lalotai. Instead, there was nothing but the rippling underside of the ocean, cold and indifferent. It filled him with aching misery. He missed his warm, sunny beach where he could nap in sultry afternoon. He wanted to look up and see the millions of glittering stars in the night.

His antennae drooped, hanging limply on the ground before him as he silently moped-slumped in the dirt and fully immersed in his own self-pity. Finally, though, something began to cut through his despondency like a knife- _betrayal_. Maui had done this to him. Maui had left him alone on that forsaken island for ages. Maui had returned only to exile him yet again. With those feelings of betrayal came slow kindling of resentment, building as his misery crystallized into deep seated rancor.

It was this newfound reserve of anger that finally drove him to his feet. This wasn't over. Somehow, he knew that inevitably that little semi-god would find his way to Lalotai on some foolish heroic mission. Well, he'd be waiting. He'd be ready and he wouldn't hold back next time.

First things first, though. It was time to carve out a new home here.


	9. Width of a Circle

The seas were stormy, wind-tossed and slate grey, as Maui sailed back to the nearest village. The fierce wind tore at the sail relentlessly, causing his canoe to buck and shudder with every gust. Maui paid the foul weather no heed, wrenching on the rigging and staring stone-faced through the rain as he kept to his course. It mirrored his own mood, though his own expression was one of forced neutrality.

He had only done what was necessary. In fact, his actions were really quite restrained and mild considering the gravity of what had been taking place on that island. He did the right thing and that was that-nothing more to it. He was protecting the mortals, who were so fragile and defenseless. They looked to him-they _needed_ him-to keep them safe. He needed them to look to him.

Why did he feel so bad, then?

He tried not to think about what happened on the island. He tried not to think of the agonizing look of utter hurt and betrayal that the crab had given him before blacking out. Thinking about these things only opened him to the possibility that he might have to shoulder at least part of the blame. It hinted at the underlying guilt that if he'd been there-if he had not waited so long-things might have been different. He refused to entertain these thoughts, however, pushing them away with all his might. There was no excuse for what had been done. The crab had been killing (and eating!) mortals. The very thought made him feel ill. No, the crab had made his choices and Maui made his. Maui made the right choice.

He still didn't feel any better.

So, he sailed on and tried to put distance between himself and it all. Spending time amongst the humans would surely improve his mood, he was positive. Their attentions were always a soothing balm.

His canoe was spotted from afar as he approached the village and by the time he reached their shores, the beach was filled with ecstatic humans waiting in the rain to greet him. Despite his mood, it made him smile to have such an enthusiastic welcome.

They rushed to help care for his canoe upon his landing, tending to the sails and tying it fast above the tide line. The rest surrounded him, peppering him with questions and greetings. The castaway's story had spread amongst them and they were clamoring to hear of his victory over the monster. He felt an uncomfortable twinge at that, but nevertheless allowed himself to be lead to their village for a celebration in his honor.

Maui's ill-humor began to abate as the feast and celebration went on, though he carefully changed the subject whenever pressed on how he had defeated the crab monster the castaway had encountered. Instead, he told them tales of past exploits to entertain them and steer away from the rougher waters. Eventually and inevitably though, it became impossible to continue avoiding the subject any longer. When formally asked by the chieftain of the village to tell the tale to the assembled crowd after the feast, he had to oblige.

So Maui told them a version of the tale, judiciously edited to leave out any indication that he might have previously associated with the monster in question, of course. It stung, even as he watched the eager and adoring faces of the humans soak up the story. They cheered for his success, though, and asked him to tell it again and again as the night wore on. They never noticed any inconsistencies as the tale was retold. With each subsequent retelling and the mortals' doting praise, the sting of it grew less biting and he began to feel far more validated in his actions and further convinced of their righteousness.

By the end of the night, Maui's good cheer had largely returned and when invited to stay on in the village as their guest, he gladly accepted the invitation.

* * *

Lalotai was an unquestionably dangerous realm, brimming with weird and savage creatures. Even the foliage was potentially lethal-often displaying a level of pernicious animus that surface world plants distinctly lacked. Tamatoa had been initially quite apprehensive about returning to this place that he'd known as a tiny young crab-justifiably so, in his own opinion. However, what had seemed so threatening in his youth was considerably less concerning now as a sizable adult.

His first encounter with the local wildlife upon being unceremoniously dumped in the realm had been eye opening, to say the least. Shortly after setting out from where he'd awoken, Tamatoa had been swarmed by screeching eight-eyed bats, a menace which infested nearly all corners of Lalotai. In his childhood here, they were the stuff of his worst nightmares. He had been forever hiding in the underbrush from them and their grasping talons, which were so eager to snap up and devour a diminutive, defenseless little crustacean. My, how the tables had turned now.

As they swooped screaming from above, he had first flinched away in a remnant of instinctive alarm. Then he remembered himself and glared with unchecked malevolence at the flying rodent scum. Withheld anger percolated to the surface and he let loose upon them without remorse, snatching them deftly from the air with his claws one by one. He spared them no mercy, whipped up into a wild furor as he was. He shredded the delicate membranes of their wings, he snapped their fragile bones, and he slammed them brutally into the earth. When he was through, he stood surrounded by their broken bodies, panting not from exertion but with the surfeit of his fury.

The few surviving eight-eyed bats fled and did not bother him again.

It felt good, too, and he grinned nastily. His spirits were raised to have bested a foe that had once haunted him so long ago. It helped take some of the sting out of his recent defeat as well. He surveyed the results of his handiwork with satisfied pride, then made a nice meal of the bats. It had been since before his ill-fated encounter with that mini-god that he had last fed and finally getting some food in him improved his mood still more.

Morale boosted and hunger abated, he ventured on into the wilds of Lalotai with a bit more confidence and renewed vigor. Perhaps he had been too hasty in writing off this realm and resisting returning to it. He might be able to eke out a passable existence here after all. In fact, he thought that he might even enjoy it.

* * *

As time passed, Maui returned to the routine he had fallen into for quite a long while. Now, however, he felt no distant tug of guilt-no pressing need to be somewhere he was not. He drifted from village to village and island to island, doing heroic deeds great and small and drinking in the praise it earned him. He tackled ever greater feats, plunging ahead with reckless abandon. If he rushed heedless into increasingly risky endeavors, well there was nothing to stop him-always seeking the next mighty victory to stoke the mortals' adoration.

He often stayed longer in the human villages these days, accepting invitations that previously he had tended to politely decline. There was no reason for him to dissemble, though. He was their hero! It was only natural they'd want him to stick around as long as he could.

Maui had noticed, however, a growing inclination towards unrest between the villages at times. It was a minor thing, really, but occasionally he would be called upon to settle quarrels between the island-hopping traders and such nevertheless. It wasn't exactly what he considered a heroic deed, but he accepted their requests to be an arbitrator when disputes arose anyway. It never truly occurred to him that he might be ill-suited to the task. He was a demigod; he could succeed at anything! There was no one to tell him otherwise, either.

So, when the chief of Mitiaru, the village where he was currently staying between adventures, approached him to handle one such disagreement, he saw no reason to say no. The chieftain lead him to the meeting house and presented him with all due pomp and honorifics.

"To settle this dispute, I call upon Maui. Shapeshifter. Demigod of the Wind and Sea. Hero of Men," he announced to the gathered crowd, who were quick to cheer for him despite the obvious tension of the gathering.

Maui grinned, always enjoying hearing his full title and the applause that followed. The chief went on to explain the issue, but Maui was really only half listening-the details seemed so trivial to him. It was something between one of the Mitiaru villagers and a visitor from the village of Etena. Maui frowned slightly at that revelation, however. It had been centuries, but he still remembered being chased out of Etena and it brought back unpleasant associations.

He would like to say he was big enough to not let that influence him, but perhaps he wasn't quite as impartial as he should be in this case. In the end, he ruled against the visitor. The mortals of Mitiaru were thrilled, praising his greatness and thanking him for his favor. The visitor from Etena left in disgrace, muttering bitterly.

Maui gave it no further thought, falling comfortably back to his routine and carrying on as he had for ages. Mortal lives were so fleeting and it was it was hard to keep track of all their little interpersonal quirks over the centuries anyway.

* * *

Tamatoa was adjusting well to his new life in Lalotai, all things considered. He was surprised to discover that he was actually enjoying himself, unfettered by any imposition of distinctly human standards. It had not taken long to establish himself as a dominant force either, swiftly trouncing any smaller monsters that dared challenge his superiority. There were precious few monsters in Lalotai that were sizable enough or dangerous enough to be a genuine threat to him. Larger creatures were out there, of course, but it was a vast realm and true challengers were few and far between. Besides, he'd been fairly successful in handling everything thrown at him thus far.

His growth had slowed here, he noticed. While he had gained a bit more height in a molt soon after arriving, the need to continue molting was far less pressing these days. Whether this was simply due to his age or something environmental, he didn't really know. Truthfully, there wasn't much he actually knew about his own kind other than what came to him instinctively. There was no one to ask, though, so he paid it little mind for the most part. It was convenient anyway, as he hated having to shed his perfect, beautifully decorated shell and start all over getting it just right again. It was one thing to go through all that when he was safely alone on a remote island, but in a place like Lalotai it opened him to the possibility of thieves or worse. He saw no particular need to concern himself with all that hassle.

He was still in the market for an appropriate home, however. His current digs-a large limestone cavern set back into one of the towering reef-like structures-were acceptable, but not preferable. They were dark and chilly, with a disappointing lack any natural light to make his treasures sparkle. While he knew he'd never find something truly comparable to sunlit beach he used to enjoy before, he at least wanted to find something a bit more glamorous than that dismal cave.

So, when he came across the towering shape of an enormous murex shell perched upright on the edge of a precipice, he was smitten. It was flanked by the grand spires of two narrow spiral shells, reaching towards the surface. So enormous was the whole arrangement that the top of the murex shell, along with one of the nearby spires, broke through the rippling water-sky. It was ostentatious, it was extravagant, it was _perfect_. Tamatoa wanted it.

It was sure to have a current occupant, however. Well, he would just have to deliver their eviction notice.

Quietly, he crept up the winding path to the shell-moving with a nimble silence that was at odds with his huge frame. The mouth of the shell was half-buried in the sand, but it was plenty large enough for him to get inside. For now, however, he merely peered inside to see what might be inhabiting his future home.

One look inside told him that this was _definitely_ the right choice. The roof of the cavernous shell, extending far into the sky-waterline, was open and allowed shimmering light to filter in from above. It lit the whole interior up, tracing wavy lines of light across the curving walls, and gave it more warmth than the outside air.

Resting lightly in the middle of the cavern was a creature he'd never seen before, however. It was quite large-nearly half his size-and vaguely fish-shaped. A wild array of vertical stripes in brown, red, and white marked it's sides. Most striking, however, were the long, fan-like pectoral fins that radiated from it's sides and the tall, slender spines that extended along its dorsal ridge. These too were striped in reds, white, and brown. As Tamatoa watched, the creature stirred and began to move. It lifted itself up on those spiny side fins, using them like stilts to maneuver around the cavern. He got a good glimpse of its head as it moved, too. The creature's face was nearly all mouth, with two curving, horn-like projections above its unblinking eyes.

The soon-to-be homeless fish monster moved ridiculously slowly and seemed harmless enough. One could never been sure in Lalotai, though. It wouldn't have held onto this prime location if it didn't have something to back the claim up, after all. Nevertheless, Tamatoa felt confident he could easily remove this interloper from his new home without too much effort.

He sauntered inside. "Moving day!" he announced, cheerfully skipping all formalities, "time to get out!"

The fish-creature flared its trailing fins and turned slowly to face Tamatoa. If it possessed the ability to speak, it still said nothing, but gave him a cold, stubborn glare and planted itself firmly where it sat.

Tamatoa snorted, mildly peeved. "Out!" he demanded, "you're being evicted. Get lost."

The fish-creature made no move to depart, but instead wiggled its body more firmly into the sand. It made no move to attack, just simply dug in and stayed put.

Annoyed, Tamatoa approached it, although with at least some degree of caution. It's reactions, or lack thereof, were unusual even by Lalotai standards. The monster made no move as he stepped closer, staying utterly still and giving him a dispassionate stare.

Perplexed, Tamatoa regarded it with uncertainty. Things that neither fled before him nor attacked were strange indeed. Still leaving a little space between himself and the odd creature, he looked it over critically. It had no claws or fangs or even teeth that he could see. So, what made it so stubborn?

Experimentally, he scuffed at the sandy floor with a leg and kicked the stirred dirt at the creature's face. It flinched and shook the sand away, but still refused to move. Curious now at its obstinance, Tamatoa reached forward with a claw to poke at the fish beast. As he did, the creature suddenly moved with a flash of movement. The spines along its back arced forward to slash at his pincer.

The spines scraped sharply against his claw, but were utterly insufficient to actually penetrate his heavy exoskeleton. Nevertheless, they left parallel streaks of some bright orange fluid behind. Taking a step back, he examined the watery substance on his claw with narrowed eyes. Then there came a faint burning sensation where the liquid had dripped along his pincer, growing in intensity as it ran down the sides.

With a yelp, he quickly ducked back to scrape his claw along the sand and wipe the liquid-clearly some sort of acidic venom-away. Thankfully, it came off easily and did little more than sting a bit once cleared away. A minor hurt, but it stirred Tamatoa's temper nevertheless. He shot the toxic little fish creature a look dripping with venom of his own.

He darted forward swiftly, keeping his pincer low to avoid the needle-like tips of the creature's spines. It closed around the base of those dorsal spines and twisted them sideways. With a series of hollow snaps, the spines broke away. Shimmering orange poison dripped down from their broken bases, landing upon its own host and causing the fish creature to writhe in grunting agony. Careful to avoid touching the sizzling orange stuff, Tamatoa grabbed the creature by its tail and dragged it to the exit. Once outside, he flung the creature, still thrashing from the effects of its own venom, off into the abyss. "Told you to get out!" he called after it glibly.

No use in trying to eat something like that, he figured. It was probably poisonous in addition to venomous. Would probably give him terrible indigestion.

Having taken out the trash, Tamatoa went back in to smugly survey his new acquisition. It was spacious and airy, but could use a little work redecorating and perhaps a more concealed entryway to discourage unwanted visitors. The sand below was firm, but pliable enough that he could likely nestle into it rather comfortably. He looked up at the skylight above with unrestrained pleasure. That particular feature was easily the best part of the whole deal.

He stepped into the light, eager to see how well it highlighted the glittering expanse of his shell. As he had hoped, it gleamed nicely despite the diffuse nature of the sunlight filtering through the sea above. As he moved, he noticed that the light reflected from his treasures bounced onto the walls of the lair. Hundreds of golden pinpricks of light were cast all around, scattered like the multitude of stars he so missed from the surface world. Tamatoa smiled brightly, absolutely delighted by the sparkling effect.

His thoughts were interrupted though, by a sudden splash of water from above. He looked up just in time to see a silvery tuna break through the water tension above. Dumbfounded, he barely had time to process this latest oddity when it smacked him full on in the face.

He jumped back, startled, and batted the fish away. Then several more fish fell from above, landing in a flopping pile on the ground. Tamatoa tilted his head, staring in confusion at this unexpected windfall. Then realization struck and he began to laugh. These fish were clearly just as dumb as humans and had been just as easily lured down by the shine of his shell. Still laughing, he scooped up the squirming fish and stuffed them in his mouth.

He cast another fond glance up at his wonderful little skylight. Perhaps he'd have to rig some sort of shutter for it, otherwise his enticing allure might have fish raining down at terribly inconvenient times.

Content and beyond pleased with his new home, Tamatoa smiled with satisfaction. He had all his basics well and truly covered. Now, he could start preparing for his inevitable rematch against a certain traitorous mini-god. However long it took for the demigod to find his way down here, Tamatoa would be ready.

* * *

Maui was deeply troubled. The mortals were getting more quarrelsome amongst themselves. He wasn't sure what exactly had gone wrong, but tensions were escalating to a serious point now and there didn't seem to be any stopping it. In all his centuries, there had naturally been conflict between tribes before but Maui had never seen them get as combative as they were now. Then again, he had never spent so much time lingering among them either. The idea that the two conditions may be related did not immediately occur to him.

It had all started off between two villages-Mitiaru and Etena-and had swiftly grown beyond their borders as other villages allied with one or the other. Maui tried to intervene as best he could. He tried to diffuse the tensions and get them to calm down, but it seemed his involvement only made things worse.

When the accusations came that he was playing favorites-that he was aligning himself with one group over the other-Maui began to realize the scope of the problem. In centuries past, he had never lingered beyond a few days at a time in any village. They-no, _he_ had always been on the move to the next adventure or spending downtime on otherwise uninhabited islands. It was clear now, however, that a demigod staying on too long amongst the humans was the cause of this conflict. His heart sank with the revelation, knowing that he'd have to curtail his time in the villages in the future once more.

That did little to ameliorate the current problem, however. The islands were on the brink of war. He had to stop it, but he didn't know how.

Frustrated at his inability to solve the problem and afraid that the humans were close to rejecting him, he knew he had to figure out something. It was times like these he wished he had someone to bounce ideas off of, but-

Oh!

Maui's spirits rose instantly, his good cheer returning as the thought struck him. There _was_ something he could do to calm these tensions down! It was so obvious and Maui was surprised he hadn't thought of it already. He knew _just_ the thing! There was no question that the scavenging bottom feeder still had it, either. He never gave any of his treasures up, particularly not one so valuable.

Maui needed Haunui, the golden warclub-an artifact that the legends said peace followed.

He knew just where to get it.


	10. Blackout

Lalotai did not appear to have changed much since Maui's last time here. It was still a vast, weird world splashed with a riot of colors, pulsating with eerie light, and populated with even stranger creatures. He had wasted no time to take in the scenery on his last visit, however-too overwhelmed with him anger to stick around.

This trip, however, was clearly going to take a while. The crab had to be around here somewhere, but Maui had absolutely no idea where to even begin looking. It couldn't be that hard, though. After all, how many places could an impossibly huge crab really hide?

He'd started his search at the clearing where he had last seen the crab. More accurately, it was the clearing where he'd left him after returning him to the realm of monsters. Hadn't that been a feat, too! Maui still couldn't believe he'd managed to find a way to haul the oversized crustacean all the way down here. Shame he didn't even get a new tattoo for it, but he supposed that one would just have to be a tale to legend.

Raising his hook, Maui took to the air with a flash of light as he shifted to a hawk's form. He'd cover far more ground from above. From his starting point, he began a spiraling pattern out from the center-each circle gradually widening as he broadened his search. He skimmed low whenever anything promising appeared, but thus far had found no trace of the crab even as he cast his search wider and wider.

He had to be here. How could a gargantuan crab with a massive ego, covered in tacky trinkets, possibly be so well hidden? A small thought crept in and Maui felt his wings falter as it hit him. What if Tamatoa was dead? Maui backpedaled in midair, beating his wings to catch the wind again and right himself. No, that could not be a possibility. The crab was nearly as ageless as Maui himself and even here in Lalotai he'd be difficult to kill. No, he had to still be around. Maui pushed the disquieting notion away with an effort.

He was quickly getting frustrated, though, as it became clear this was going to be harder than he initially thought. He was on the verge of landing and changing his whole strategy when a sliver of a warm golden glow caught his eye. Maui banked sharply and swooped low to get a better look.

The light was spilling through a crooked opening at the base of massive spiral shell. The shell was embedded upright in the ground and stretched to the underside of the ocean. An oversized clam shell was wedged where the shell's mouth would be an it was through this opening that the light emanated. It was certainly a flashy enough location to have attracted the crab, that's for sure.

Maui wheeled closer, careful to keep his shadow from falling across the entryway from above. He couldn't see inside from here, but this was the most promising spot he'd encountered so far. What else would explain the warm glow of light in a place dominated by cooler shades of blue or garish neon?

So intently was he scrutinizing the towering structure that he paid no heed to a hissing sound from below-a thin release of steam. When he finally did recognize what the sound was, it was too late and he was caught off guard by a burst of water exploding from below. He swerved sharply, but he was too close. The jet of the geyser caught his wingtip and sent him spinning. Had he been at a higher altitude, he would have recovered easily but flying this low left him no time to right himself. He crashed tumbling into the ground, but rolled with the momentum. Effortlessly, he pulled out of the roll with burst of light and stood back in his human shape, hook held at ready, glowing blue, and ready to fend off any impending attack.

There was no attack. He seemed to be alone on the winding pathway up to the shell. Shrugging off the blunder and brushing the dirt from his shoulders, he got back to business and started up the path.

It was quieter near the immense shell structure as if few creatures dared approach, with only the hiss and splutter of the geyser field to break the unnatural silence. As he got closer, he could see a sprinkling of glittery shells and bric-a-brac on the ground just outside the entry, illuminated by the light inside the lair. Maui smirked. This was definitely the place.

There was no hint of movement or shadow from inside, but nevertheless Maui approached with caution. He was sure the crab was in there and didn't want to tip him off early. Having the element of surprise would make a significant difference in how this all went down.

Maui reached the entrance. He kept out of sight, pressed into the shadows where the warm light didn't reach. He stole a quick look inside, then darted back to the shadows. The cavernous shell was well it from a wide hole in the shell, high above the floor, and Maui could see gleaming treasures scattered haphazardly around the interior. What he didn't see, however, was a giant crab.

Huh. Well, he must have caught the crab away from home, because there was absolutely no doubt that this was the place. This worked well enough for Maui, though. An ambush was even more effective than simply surprising a monster.

Maui left the shadows behind and stepped inside the luminous lair. He moved to the center of the cavern, looking amongst the piles of treasure on the floor. It was always possible that the war club might be among them, which would negate any need to even deal with the-

There was an impossibly heavy thud behind him, shaking the very ground.

Maui whipped around in surprise, eyes wide, to face the inevitable.

Tamatoa stood, sneering with unrestrained malice and blocking the exit with his imposing bulk. He must have dropped down from above the entryway. The crab had always been a skillful climber, Maui remembered now, and had laid an ambush of his own.

"Well, well," Tamatoa purred nastily. "Look who decided to visit."

Ok, clearly there were still some bad feelings. Well, Maui had been under no illusion that this was going to be easy. He brought his fishhook up warningly, but the crab did not draw back. Quite the opposite, the crab advanced on him, slowly and deliberately with menacing steps. He was even larger than last Maui had seen him and was now far more comfortable using his size to intimidate as well.

"And what are you doing here, little mini-god?" Tamatoa crooned. There was a malicious gleam in the crab's eyes that Maui recognized, but had never seen directed at himself before. Maui would not be deterred, though.

"I want Haunui. I want the war club," he demanded brazenly, not cowed by the crab's threatening act. "Just give it to me now. Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

Whatever answer the crab had been expecting, that clearly wasn't it. His antennae twitched and he seemed thrown for just the briefest of moments, then that fleeting expression vanished. Tamatoa laughed, but it was a mirthless sound. "Still trying to break our agreement, even centuries later? And for what? To give it to those useless humans?" His gaze sharpened. "Well, you can't have it."

Maui grit his teeth. "You don't want to fight me on this," he warned. His hook lit up, blue light tracing along the scrimshaw lines.

"I'm pretty sure I do." The crab was still coming towards him, one measured step at a time.

"This is your last chance," Maui told him, his body tensing.

Tamatoa gave him a narrow eyed, toothy grin. "Oh no, I think it's _your_ last chance. Why else would you be _here_?"

Maui flinched slightly, almost imperceptibly, but Tamatoa had always been able to read him disturbingly well. The crab found the crack in his armor and pushed at it relentlessly, his voice mocking. "Humans not as easily impressed as they used to be? Or maybe you've just never been that impressive to begin with."

Maui felt his temper rising, egged on by the stinging words which hit so close to the bone. The crab took another step towards him and opened his mouth to say something else.

With a roar of wild rage, Maui abandoned all sense and leapt at the monstrous crab.

There was no look of surprise on Tamatoa's face. He'd clearly been anticipating this and dodged nimbly to the side, then retaliated with shocking swiftness. Maui suddenly found himself flying through the air as Tamatoa struck him sideways with a pincer. He slammed hard into the wall of the cavern, but held onto his hook and rolled quickly back to his feet.

The crab had gotten the drop on him twice now, but he was determined not to get caught out again. Tamatoa was coming at him fast again, with a speed that no creature his size should reasonably possess. Maui was ready this time, though, and repelled the attack soundly.

They clashed again and again, but Maui was swiftly gaining the upper hand. He shifted in and out of his hawk's form, raining down blows on Tamatoa from above and darting back out of reach of the crab's snapping claws. Maui knew he'd eventually wear him down this way, heavily armored shell or not.

Tamatoa was already showing signs of fatigue, his reactions slower and his attacks less coordinated.

Maui felt confident that this was just about in the bag. He stood in his human form, preparing to make another run at the crab and hopefully finish the fight, when suddenly Tamatoa jumped back a few steps and struck the side of his lair with a claw, the hollow thud resonating through the chamber. Maui was briefly perplexed at this, wondering what the crab was playing at. Then a shadow passed overhead and the lair was plunged into pitch black darkness. He caught a brief flicker of softly glowing bioluminescence from the crab, but then Tamatoa doused his own lights and vanished into the dark.

One wouldn't think an enormous crab could disappear so effectively, but Tamatoa was entirely undetectable with his own glow suppressed and his movements silent. Maui lit his hook, but it's faint halo of light failed to penetrate all corners of the lair and reveal the hidden crustacean.

Maui stayed alert, listening intently for any sign of the crab. Then Tamatoa's voice rang out in the dark.

"You know, all that time you left me stranded _alone_ on that island-all those uncountable years that you _abandoned_ me there to go play hero for the humans-there was really just one question I had for you. Do you know what it is?"

Maui searched the darkness for him, chasing the sound of his voice. It echoed in the cavernous lair, however, and seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"How does it feel, _Maui_?" he sneered the demigod's name, as if it's very utterance was an insult in itself. "How does it feel to have grown up to be _just like your parents_?"

Maui's blood turned to ice in his veins and his face went white.

In the same instant and all happening with lightning speed, the darkness was violently split asunder as Tamatoa's bioluminescence blazed brilliantly and the crab leapt from the shadows without any sound of warning.

It was a calculated move and Maui was caught completely unprepared for the third time. He was still reeling from Tamatoa's biting words when the attack descended upon him. Before he knew what was happening, he was slammed into the ground on his back with enough force to knock the wind out of him. His hook flew from his grasp, landing with a clatter somewhere out of sight in the darkness. He couldn't so much as draw a breath before he was pinned down by one of Tamatoa's legs-planted firmly in the center of his chest with the hard point of it digging into his breastbone.

Maui struggled under the weight of the leg, trying to break free without much success winded as he was. He cast his gaze about in the dark frantically, desperately searching for his hook. His advantage was lost and he was in real trouble now.

The crab loomed over him with a twisted grin, made doubly horrifying by his glowing facial markings and the brightly flashing colors now filling his eyes. "Without your hook you really aren't anything special, are you?" he taunted coolly. "Just a bit of flotsam thrown into the sea." Tamatoa leaned down, bringing his face closer to Maui. "You are _nothing_ ," he whispered, perfectly designed to cut deep.

Maui felt a cold fury fill him like nothing he'd ever felt before, spurred on by the crab's increasingly personal ridicule. With it came a renewed will and he reached up with both hands to grab ahold of the leg pinning him down. With an enraged yell, he summoned up all his strength and _twisted_.

The cracking sound that filled the room was sickening, cutting even through Maui's blind fury. It did nothing to dissuade him, however. Nor did the high, agonized shriek that followed. The weight lifted from his chest, but Maui held on and was pulled to his feet. Now standing, he braced against the sand and gave the leg another wrenching turn. Tamatoa's scream reached a new volume, but even through the tortured howl of pain, Maui could still hear the crunching pop as the leg broke away in his hands.

* * *

It had been going so well, really. Tamatoa had heard the crash outside his lair and had quickly determined its source. He'd had plenty of time to prepare his ambush, clinging silently to the ledge above the entryway. True, Maui had been gaining ground on him, but Tamatoa had been prepared with a trick of his own and, all as part of the general plan, he had managed to successfully separate the demigod from that blasted hook. Victory seemed assured at that point. Perhaps he was indulging in just a little excessive gloating, but that was his prerogative once he had his adversary trapped, wasn't it?

And then it had all gone horribly wrong.

One minute he had Maui pinned down securely; the next was filled with blinding pain. He tried to pull away, urgently drawing his leg back to escape the agony. The demigod clung to him doggedly, though. Then the pain drove up another notch and his vision blurred, going white around the edges. Seconds seemed like an eternity. All he could hear was his own voice-a raw scream that drowned out everything but the excruciating sensation. As such, he heard nothing else when he felt his leg splinter and break-bringing a whole new previously unknown level of piercing, fiery pain.

Then the demigod yanked roughly and Tamatoa felt his leg rip away at the second joint. Everything went white. Unbalanced by the loss of the leg, vision clouded, and in sheer unrelenting agony, he lost his footing and crashed heavily to the ground.

The keening howl-his own voice, he thought distantly-began to fade as his vision went from blinding white to a creeping dark that threatened to overwhelm him and take him down with it. He struggled to remain conscious. If he passed out now, he'd never wake up-Maui would kill him, he was certain.

He opened his eyes and forced them to focus as best he could. His vision sharpened just enough to see Maui standing before him. He'd retrieved his hook and held it ready, his stance wide and his face contorted with fury. The hook glowed harshly blue in the darkness, just as it had the very first time he'd seen it.

He had to get up. If he stayed down, he wouldn't survive.

Tamatoa's remaining legs scrabbled in dirt as he struggled to rise again and face his foe. They slipped, however, in the growing slick of blood pooling beneath him. The blood was blue and glowing faintly with a slowly fading light-his blood. There was an awful lot of it, he thought vaguely. Between the slippery sand and his inability to immediately compensate his balance for the missing leg, he fell back to the earth with a dull thud.

His eyes sought the demigod out, fearing the inevitable. Maui was watching him struggle impassively. Unable to rise and too overwhelmed by searing pain to fight back, Tamatoa felt his resistance slip away and he let his eyes slide closed. Better to not see the coup de grâce coming.

He felt Maui climbing on his shell. He tensed, anticipating more pain and to be swiftly shuffled off the mortal coil courtesy of that fishhook. This was it. He waited for the end.

The blow never fell.

He heard Maui jump back to the sand. Confused, Tamatoa opened one eye, then the other. He looked around and found Maui. He was clutching Haunui, the golden war club that they had once quarreled about centuries ago, in his hand. Without another word to Tamatoa, the demigod started to leave.

Still unable to stand, Tamatoa was nevertheless roused sharply enough to anger at the sight of one of his treasures being taken to shout at the demigod. "You filthy _thief!_ This isn't over!" he snarled through his pain.

Maui paused, turning to cast him a baleful glare. "Yes, it is."

With that, Maui walked out. As he left, Tamatoa stared at the demigod's back. Even with his vision still blurring, he couldn't fail to notice the tattoo on Maui's left shoulder shifting and changing. Where once it depicted the demigod and himself pulling up an island together, now the avatar representing himself had relocated to a lower position-locked in defeat against Maui's own depiction.

Then the demigod was gone, leaving Tamatoa bloody, broken, and sprawled in his lair alone.

Weak from loss of blood and hopelessly adrift in a sea of pain, he closed his eyes and let darkness wash over him, carrying him to sweet oblivion.

There were no dreams in the swirling dark.

Tamatoa slowly came back to the world, feeling woozy and faint. He was still sprawled on the floor of his darkened lair, surrounded by a dark blue-green stain of his own blood, dried where it soaked into the sand beneath him. He had no idea how long he had been out, but the searing pain that had been so torturous before had dulled now to a barely tolerable throbbing ache. Instinctively, he tried to flex his severed leg and the bloody stump of it twitched hard. He had the odd and unpleasant sensation of realizing that, despite the fact that the leg was mostly gone, he could almost still feel it there. It was disorienting and he wanted nothing more than to drift back into unconsciousness to avoid the reality of his situation.

He closed his eyes and willed sleep to come.

There was a faint clacking noise and the sound of something approaching. He screwed his eyes shut even tighter, stubbornly trying to block it out. Lost in his misery, he just didn't care.

Then there came a voice-a soft, lilting female voice that sounded vaguely familiar, though Tamatoa couldn't place it through his haze. "I told you that you wouldn't like how this ended," the voice said, knowingly but gentle and without ridicule.

Some distant memory stirred in him and Tamatoa opened his eyes. Blinking in the dark of his lair, he could see glowing purple and pink colors outlining the shape of a giant spider. Centuries upon centuries had passed, but he vaguely recognized her. He was larger than her now, a distinct reversal from when he first encountered the spider on the ill-fated adventure that earned him the war club that Maui had just stolen.

She looked at him with glittering emerald eyes, gleaming in the dark. There was pity in her gaze.

He didn't want her pity. Pity was just a step away from contempt, after all. Tamatoa looked away. "Leave me alone," he said flatly.

"Well, Herenui, he's not as charming as before," another voice piped up, this one brighter and upbeat. "But he's still quite handsome!" Much to his dismay, a second, smaller spider-glowing with orange and yellow designs-stepped into his line of sight.

Even the praise failed to bring him around, though. Tamatoa closed his eyes again and tried to will them away so he could sulk in peace.

"You can't just lie there," Herenui said, a frown in her voice.

"I can and I will," Tamatoa replied petulantly.

He heard the larger spider approach with delicate steps. She was close enough that he could easily have reached out and snapped at her with a claw, but he had no energy for it.

"Did you ever really think it would work?" she asked him, not unkindly. "That demigods and monsters could be friends?"

He winced, too raw to hide it, and opened his eyes. "He raised me," he mumbled miserably, unable to stop himself from voicing that admission. He instantly wished he hadn't, as saying it out loud made the betrayal seem all the nearer.

The spider came closer and her gleaming eyes bored into his. "You need to let it go," she told him firmly.

He let out a sullen, dismissive huff.

The spider's eyes narrowed and her tone grew more forceful. "You're the last of the great crabs-one of the most ancient creatures in Lalotai. Stop acting like a child."

Insulted, he worked up a glare.

"Good, get mad. Now get up," she instructed.

He clicked a pincer in annoyance, strongly disliking being bossed around. Sagely, the spider stepped smoothly out of his reach. When he made no move to get up, however, Herenui sharply snapped at him. "Get up, you fool!"

Tamatoa growled, getting angry now. He took a swipe at her with a claw, but she was quicker than him in his drained state and danced easily out of range.

"Get up!" she commanded harshly. "Or end up as food for some other monster!"

She had a point there, but acknowledging that point only stoked his ire further. If he wanted to shut this tormenting spider down, he'd have to get up. His legs twitched as he willed himself into motion. Scraping at the blood soaked dirt, he tried to lift himself up. Off balance, though, he reached out with a leg that wasn't there and crashed cursing back down.

"So close!" came the encouraging shout from Hereiti, the smaller spider. She was quickly shushed by Herenui, who jabbed her with a leg to shut her up.

Tamatoa had the distinct impression that he was being manipulated here, which only annoyed him further. He had to get these spiders out of his home so he could properly wallow in his misery, but to do that he had to get up.

Again he struggled to get his legs under him properly, slower and more carefully now. It took a great deal of effort, but he managed at last to rise. Mobile again, Tamatoa shot the spiders a glare.

"Oh, Herenui! Look how big he's grown since we last saw him!" Hereiti exclaimed radiantly, with a somewhat off-putting giggle.

The larger spider, however, was already shepherding her companion towards the exit-they had apparently found the hidden passage out-before Tamatoa could get it together enough to retaliate for her rough treatment of his bruised ego.

"But Herenui," the smaller spider protested vigorously as she was lead away, "he's hurt and sad and I just wanted to-"

And then they were gone and Tamatoa was alone once more. Alone, but still standing.


	11. Can You Hear Me

Maui made it as far as the line of tentacle-palm trees beyond the geyser field before his hands began to shake. The adrenaline ebbed and with it fled his composure and cool demeanor. An unexpected wave of nausea swept over him suddenly. He stepped swiftly off the path, dropped his hook and the war club into the dirt, and was quietly sick between the glowing fronds of coral polyp bushes. Kneeling in the soft earth, he shook his head to clear it and lifted an arm to wipe at his mouth. He stopped, however, when he saw the streaks of blue blood on his hands. He stared numbly at stains on his skin, slowly drying to a dark patina even in the damp air.

What had he _done?_

Tamatoa had been his best and only friend for centuries. How had things spiraled so far out of control as to get to this point? He hadn't meant for things to go this way.

Maui cringed at the very thought, unable to tear his gaze away from the damning evidence painted on his skin. He had expected a fight, of course, as Tamatoa would never haven given up one of his treasures willingly-particularly not this one, owing to their own sordid history behind it. Maui's intent, however, had been to just tire the crab out, snatch the club while he was winded, and then simply fly off with it. It should have been easy. Tamatoa, though, seemed to be out for blood. For the very first time, Maui was truly convinced that the monstrous crab was willing to kill him. There had been a vicious malice in the crab that Maui had not been expecting to ever see aimed his way. Then there were the things that Tamatoa had _said._

It had cut him to the very bone, worse than any physical blow. Was he really no better than his own parents? Was he really nothing without his hook? In the moment, it had made him angry beyond rationality. So angry that he had-

His stomach churned. No, he couldn't think about that.

The anger had faded now, though, and the crab's words weighed heavily on him. It was true that he had left Tamatoa on that island, but he had always meant to come back! He had been on his way, but the humans were just so needy. He'd just been busy, that's all. It was totally different from what his parents had done to him. Completely different, he assured himself again. Besides, it didn't excuse Tamatoa for luring humans to his island and _eating them_.

Maui stared at his bloody hands.

He felt as if there were eyes upon him-knowing eyes peering out of the unforgiving Lalotai landscape and looking down upon him with unrelenting accusation. This realm was truly ancient and it seemed to Maui as if the very land itself was casting judgement upon him-upon Maui, who had fought and killed countless monsters over the years of his long life. He had defeated countless monsters and one friend.

He could still hear an echo ringing in his ears of the awful cracking sound.

Maui fought a wave of renewed nausea back down, then took a deep, steadying breath. He hadn't meant to do it, but he had. If he hadn't done it, he told himself, the crab monster would have killed him. He only did what he had to.

These excuses seemed flimsy even to Maui.

Nevertheless, he forced himself to swallow his own thin justifications. As the Hero of Men, defeating monsters was in his job description. What was he without all that? With great effort, he looked away from his hands-breaking the spell of guilt laid upon him. He took another breath, then glanced around himself at the wildly colored terrain. Despite himself, his gaze was drawn up the hill towards the towering shell structure. A small voice within him urged him to go back and-and what? He didn't know and so he squashed the thought immediately. What he had done could not be undone.

Instead, he steadied himself, wiped the bloody evidence from his hands in the dust beneath him, gathered his hook and the war club, and returned to his feet. Whatever the cost, he had done what he set out to do. He had retrieved Haunui and could now put an end to the conflict brewing amongst the mortals. This would prove he wasn't _nothing_. He was Maui. Shapeshifter. Demigod of the Wind and Sea. Hero of Men.

He'd show them that he was someone.

With a flash of his hook, he transformed once more into a hawk. He took up the jewel-encrusted war club in his talons and leapt into the air. He spared a last regretful glance back down at the glowing realm beneath his wings as he spiraled upward, then he was racing back up to the surface world where the mortals awaited.

Maui was treated with joyous praise when he arrived back in the village of Mitiaru and it soothed the ache in his chest. He wasted no time, instructing the chieftain to send an emissary to the rival chief of Etena and summoning them to peace talks. He left the war club behind in his canoe for now, preferring not to reveal it until all were gathered and they could all properly appreciate his gift and the peace that would surely follow.

It took two weeks for the chief of Etena to arrive and she did not arrive alone. Indeed, she had arrive with a small fleet of war canoes. The sails and rigging of these canoes reflected a diverse group, spanning the styles of several other island tribes. The chieftain of Etena had brought her allies, obviously prepared for war if the talks fell through or perhaps she simply did not trust the summons. Either way, it added tension that cut through the revelry that the people of Mitiaru had indulged in since Maui had returned.

Clearly, however, the chief of Mitiaru had expected such a thing, as shortly afterwards there were more sails on the horizon. Another small flotilla approached, their fluttering sails adorned with the livery of Mitiaru's allies. Both fleets remained just offshore, sails reefed and yet waiting with cold anticipation.

In this dire atmosphere, the chief of Etena made landfall in a small canoe and she brought along a handful of warriors as her guard as well. Despite all this, Maui was confident that everything was going to work out. He had Haunui, which would enforce peace. Everything would be fine.

While the two rival chieftains proceeded to the meeting house, Maui slipped back to his canoe to retrieve the club. Pulling it from the hold, he lifted it up into the late afternoon sunlight to look it over. It was much as he remembered, heavy and made from solid gold with dark rubies like blood trailing down the sides from its head. It glittered in the slanting sunlight. So much trouble over this gaudy thing.

He tucked it under his arm and headed back to the village.

Negotiations were already underway when he entered the meeting house, the two rival chiefs seated across from one another and flanked by their supporters. All talk ceased, however, and all eyes fell upon Maui as he entered.

With a cocky grin, Maui held up the war club with both hands and placed it upon a mat in the center of the gathering. "I give you Haunui," he announced with a dramatic flourish, "the golden club of ancient legend, to bring a lasting peace to your people."

There was a brief silence, in which all mortal eyes fell upon the gleaming war club. Then a harsh, buzzing murmur ran through the crowd. It seemed to build slowly, with a sharp tension like rigging straining in a storm. Then the room exploded into fierce battle.

Maui's face fell, a look of shock replacing one of triumph.

Humans were scrambling to get their hands on the club, struggling amongst themselves. Weapons were snatched up and both warriors and villagers alike joined the fray. Maui desperately tried to stop them, but they were deaf to his cries. They ignored him entirely, focused completely on their own fight. Attempting to separate them were futile, as there were so many locked in combat. Maui was unwilling to use his full strength and potentially harm them, too.

Aghast and at a loss, Maui could only watch in sheer horror as the mortals began to slaughter one another. He didn't know what to do, utterly adrift. The club was supposed to bring peace, not fighting! That's what the legends all claimed.

Legends, it would seem, were not always true to how they are told. Perhaps peace followed in the aftermath of Haunui, but peace did not accompany it where it was present.

Something about the club had spurred violence and strife amongst the humans. Maui couldn't understand how this could happen. After all, it hadn't effected him like this, had it? Perhaps humans were more susceptible or-

A sudden and distressing thought crept in, but Maui was in no place to entertain it in the midst of all this chaos. There was no time to think about it now.

Desperate to undo this mess, Maui could think of only one thing to do. He had to get the golden war club out of here. He searched the mayhem around him for it and finally spied it. Two mortals were clinging to it, locked into a fierce struggle to take it for themselves-kicking and flailing their fists at each other with a feral energy. Determined to make this right, Maui waded through the crowd towards them. They paid him no heed until he grabbed ahold of the club and firmly shook them both loose from it, an easy feat with his superior strength.

Denied their prize, they both turned on him with fierce anger. Screaming insults, they pounded on him ineffectively with their fists. Maui stared for a moment, unable to hide his shock. Their feeble blows were barely noticeable, but the impact of them hurt more than physical wounds. He was only trying to help them and now they were set against him. Still, he had to brush it aside and focus on getting the club out of here. Maybe then the humans would calm down.

Holding Haunui close to his chest with one hand, he used his free hand to clear a path out of the brawl as gently as possible. Humans were fragile and he didn't want to accidentally hurt them. Well, not any more than they were hurting themselves at least. Some tried to take the club from him, but were firmly rebuffed as he made his way through.

Finally, he made it through the crowd and into the open air outside the meeting house. The sun was long since set by now, but the moonlight illuminated the island brightly as Maui raced towards the beach. Humans were scrambling in all directions as he passed, some rushing to join the fight and others hurrying to the canoes to alert the waiting fleets. He had to stop this before it could get worse. He had to get this cursed war club as far away as possible.

Maui's canoe loomed up into view on the shore in the pale light. His hook was waiting, the rope-wrapped grip poking out of the hold. He sprinted for it and snatched it up. In a flash, he took to the skies as a hawk. The club gripped tightly, he shot across the waves with feverish wingbeats. He soared past the waiting canoes offshore, flying as fast and far as his wings could manage as he left the battle behind. The island faded from view and he zipped across the darkened seas into the night.

Finally, with the island well behind him and the deep blackness of the ocean's abyss below him, he slowed and hovered high over the shifting waves. The sea was deep here, concealing a deep submarine canyon plunging into the darkness of the earth where even the most cunning sea monsters feared to swim. No one would ever retrieve the club from here, he was certain.

He opened his talons and let Haunui slide through them, plummeting to the waters below. It split the surface with barely a splash, then sank fast into the dark water-it's gleaming surface twinkling in the moonlight as it descended It was mere moments before it slipped out of sight, vanishing into the ocean's depths. Maui watched it disappear. So much trouble over that club and for what? So much had been lost on its account-more than he could even bring himself to consider. Maui wished he'd never laid eyes on it.

The legendary war club was gone now, lost forever to the depths of the abyss. Good riddance to it. Heart heavy, Maui wheeled in the air and flew back to the island-slower now and weary.

When he returned to the island, the fighting had died down to just remnants of halfhearted bickering. The humans seemed dazed and battered, with most milling about as if waking from a nightmare. The meeting house was on fire and mortals were rushing to douse the flames, frantically carrying casks of water to the blaze. There were several canoes half sunk along the shore, their masts jutting out of the shallower waters. Both the chieftains of Mitiaru and Etena were dead, along with many others from the villages.

There were no looks of blame nor words of reproach directed at Maui. Whatever had come over them when they saw Haunui, it had severely affected them and then left them more confused than anything else in its absence. They wandered about, trying to make sense of everything and largely disregarded Maui's presence entirely, cooly indifferent.

Maui did not need them to cast blame upon him, because his own guilt was doing that well enough on its own. He had made another grave error and more mortals had suffered for it. Perhaps the crab was right. Perhaps he really was nothing after all. Maybe his parents had known he was a mistake from the very start and had tossed him away for the benefit of all. These thoughts dogged him relentlessly, sending him spiraling into misery with no relief.

Despite his own crushing self-doubt, he nevertheless stayed on in the village over the successive weeks to help repair and rebuild to assuage his guilt. Even in the days that followed, no accusations or blame fell upon him. The village accepted his help with all the same gratitude and warmth as they had any of his previous heroic acts. It was as if nothing happened.

Even so, _Maui_ still knew what happened and could not forget it. He would have to do something to make up for it-something _big_ , something _amazing_.

As the days went by, an idea began to take hold as he observed up close just how much effort it took the humans to build new structures and repair canoes and replant fields. He'd never given it much thought before, but now he saw that it just took _so much work_ for the mortals to create these things. Imagine how much easier their life would be if they could just will those things into existence.

He had once rejected the notion of doing something so recklessly ambitious as what he was now considering. It was risky and dangerous, but he had little concern for such things. He was Maui. Shapeshifter. Demigod of the Wind and Sea. Hero of Men. He could do this and succeed and there was no one who could tell him otherwise this time. Imagine how the mortals would cheer for him when he gave them his most impressive gift yet. This incident would be long forgotten and they would love him again. Maybe it would even help wash away some of the guilt that stained him now.

The next morning, he set sail to find the Heart of Te Fiti.

He would show them all that he was not _nothing_.

* * *

In the cool depths of Lalotai, Tamatoa was healing well enough after his ordeal. Several weeks ensconced safely in his lair and well fed through his wonderful skylight had brought his strength back, chasing away the weakness that had dogged him after so much blood loss and trauma. After many unsteady days of practice, he had also managed to adapt his gait to counterbalance for the missing leg and could now move with much the same speed and agility as before, to his great relief.

Nevertheless, at odd times Tamatoa could almost still feel the missing leg-a peculiar, tingling itch that served as a stark reminder of what had been done. It inevitably drew his thoughts back to the one who had done this to him-Maui. Before, he had not thought he could possibly feel more betrayed by his former friend. He had been sorely mistaken on that front, apparently. Abandoned, forgotten, exiled, and now disfigured, Tamatoa had developed an extensive litany of grievances against the demigod. The betrayal was, in a way, a more lingering and insidious pain than the agony of having his leg torn away.

Most of the time, Tamatoa burned with the desire for revenge, telling himself that the next time he encountered the misbegotten semi-god, he would skip the formalities and just eat him. Well, maybe with a _little_ taunting first-just so Maui got the message loud and clear. Just so the demigod understood that Tamatoa wasn't _just a crab_ that could be casually discarded and dismembered without a reckoning for it.

Other times, however, all he felt was a vast emptiness. Sometimes he would wake from some wistful dream and remember what it was like to sail with Maui, chasing adventure and treasure when they were young and without a care in the world. He would remember when they had once trusted each other completely, getting each other out of even the most potentially deadly of scrapes. It was hard to reconcile these two vastly different images of the demigod-the friend who once always had his back and the enemy who had robbed and maimed him.

Confronted with this confusing emotional quandary, he did the only thing he knew: he buried it. He took solace in his treasures and tried to push the rest away. Sometimes, he was even convinced that it worked.

It was hard to maintain such denial in the face of one other reality, however. Tamatoa had not left his lair since the fight. At first, this was simply good sense, as he was severely injured and would have been easy pickings for some other creature beyond the safety of his walls in the wilds of Lalotai. Only a fool would have ventured outside in such a state. Weeks upon weeks had passed, though, since he had fully recovered and still he had not stepped outside for even a moment.

He made excuses to himself, trying to justify it all away. There was nothing out there he needed right now. He was well supplied right where he was. He was perfectly comfortable here. What else could he possibly want? Anything to avoid addressing the fact that his confidence has been severely eroded by all that had transpired. Anything to avoid thinking about-

"Psst!" An unexpected voice broke into his thoughts. "Yoo-hoo, handsome crab!"

His misery and self-pity interrupted, Tamatoa looked up. There was no mistaking that chipper voice and, as if on cue, the brightly marked orange and yellow spider stepped uninvited into his lair.

Well, Tamatoa was in no mood for guests. He was about to say so in no uncertain terms and with a properly backed up threat to drive the point home. Yet even as he opened his mouth to tell her to get lost, he was quickly cut off by Hereiti.

"No time for that," she teased, brushing off whatever threat he was about to issue. "Herenui doesn't know I'm here. She said to leave you to mope like a petulant child and that you'd snap out of it eventually," the spider bubbled, blithely innocent of the growing scowl on Tamatoa's face at these words. "She also said I shouldn't tell you what happened, because it'd be no good for you. But I think you'll like this!"

Tamatoa's irritation did not diminish, but his curiosity was piqued nevertheless. He gave her an impatient and vaguely threatening look. "Well, let's hear it," he demanded.

Hereiti giggled, that odd and eerie sound but with a conspiratorial note this time. "So cute when you think you're being scary," she chirped. Before he could protest, however, she went on. "That demigod-the one who ripped your poor leg off-" Tamatoa's scowl returned, eyes narrowing bitterly. He did _not_ need the reminder, thank you very much. "-well, he stole the Heart of Te Fiti."

Tamatoa blinked, surprise writ large on his face and smothering his annoyance. That was a treasure they had considered pursuing centuries ago, but they had both ultimately decided was far too risky a thing to even attempt. Tempting though it was-and it was _very_ tempting-stealing from the mother goddess was tantamount to suicide. Even if they somehow managed to survive getting it, they still had no idea what might happen if they were successful. What could possibly have driven the idiot to go after it?

Hereiti laughed again, clearly delighted by his reaction to her gossip. "That's not all!" she exclaimed. "When he tried to get away, a lava creature called Te Ka emerged from the depths." The spider paused, her emerald eyes gleaming with devious mirth. "She kicked his butt!"

A wide grin slowly spread across Tamatoa's face.

The spider continued with a grin of her own, "she knocked him right out of the sky. He lost both the Heart and his hook into the sea!"

His antennae perked at this. Many things lost to the sea eventually filtered down here. Could it be possible that-

" _And_ ," Hereiti said with emphasis, breaking into his thoughts once again, "it's said that he's trapped now, stuck alone on some tiny rock in the middle of the ocean with no hook and no escape."

Oho, there was justice in the world after all.

Tamatoa began to laugh. Once started, he could hardly contain himself and the rather malicious laughter that consumed him. How fitting that, after dumping him for what seemed like centuries on an isolated dirt pile, the demigod would find himself stranded on some rocky heap of his own to rot for all eternity.

"See! I thought that would cheer you up!" Hereiti piped up brightly.

That was putting it mildly, to say the least. When Tamatoa managed to get his laughter under control, he flashed the spider a nastily triumphant grin. "I think it's time to go on a little treasure hunt," he mused aloud, an eager glint in his eyes. "That hook is going to be _mine_."

Excited as he was, he barely spared the spider a second glance as he shoved open the hidden doorway and stepped out of his lair for the first time in months.

Behind him, he thought he heard the spider squeak in alarm as he rushed out. "Oh dear, Herenui isn't going to like this-"

Tamatoa gave her words no further thought. If Maui's fishhook had ended up here, he would find it one way or the other. That would be fair recompense, he decided, for the leg he had lost and the blow to his dignity that he had sustained. He'd scour every inch of this realm until the found it. If he found the Heart of Te Fiti with it as well, that would only sweeten the victory. It was the hook he craved, though-a trophy to surpass all others.

It took him weeks of searching, chasing rumor and whispers to all corners of Lalotai. Persistence paid off, though, and at long last, he had tracked it down.

Tamatoa was not the only monster with an eye to claim the hook, however. When he finally found where the hook had landed, there were already several other creatures large and small squabbling over it. He hesitated, his confidence still shaken in the aftermath of his embarrassing defeat. For a brief moment, he considered turning back and just leaving it to them.

Then he caught a glimpse of it-Maui's fishhook, embedded upright in the ground where it had fallen from the world above. The sight of it filled him with purpose. That hook was _his due_ and no lesser monster was going to deter him from having it. Not a chance.

With a growling roar and claws snapping, he leapt among them.

Even with a missing leg, he was clearly still a formidable threat and a force to be reckoned with. Startled monsters either scattered in terror or joined the fray, but he made short work of them all nonetheless. In the end, none who had brazenly dared try to claim the hook were spared his wrath.

Surrounded by the carnage he had wrought upon the other creatures, he smiled smugly and with vicious satisfaction. His claws still splashed with blood, he stepped to where the hook was waiting. With deft, yet delicate, precision he plucked it from its resting place. Lifting his prize up, he brought it close to his face to look upon it with a sanguine smile. Maui's fishhook was _his_ now.

He placed the hook on the very apex of his shell-the pièce de résistance of his collection, surrounded by his beautiful, shiny treasures painstakingly assembled over the countless centuries of his life.

Tamatoa cast a defiant glare up at the rippling underside of the ocean above him, placid and silently indifferent to the struggles of the two nearly ageless beings separated by it.

See, Maui? Not _just a crab_ now, am I?

And something in the Ocean was stirred.

* * *

 ** _AUTHOR NOTE:_**

 _And that wraps up our story. BUT fear not, because..._

 ** _MAUI AND TAMATOA WILL RETURN_**

 _I am already in the early stages of plotting out a post-movie sequel to this tale, tentatively titled "A Better Future." So please stay tuned as I hope to begin writing it in a few weeks! I also have a few one-shots planned for these two in their happier days._

 _I'd like to extend my warmest thanks to ALL my wonderful readers! You guys are the best and I love each and every one of you! I cherish every single one of your comments and they drive me to write more and take the story to new heights. Thank you to every person who has reviewed, favorited, or just read and enjoyed this story. I hope you have enjoyed coming along with me on this wild ride as much as I did writing it!_

 _Special thanks to From_Drab_To_Fab, who drew magnificent fanart and also helped me out in the idea department too! Go read their fanfic "There's More Than One Way To Shine," if you haven't already!_

 _And also special thanks to my friend and coworker, who did not ridicule me when she finally pried the truth out of me about what I was writing. She has been busily helping proofread this and catching my little typos and mistakes as I post chapters. THANK YOU!_

 _See y'all in the Future! :D_


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